THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

ENDOWED  BY 

JOHN  SPRUNT  HILL 
CLASS  OF  1889 


CB 

W754b 


/ 1 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


•  II  II  M  II 


00032703165 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECl 


Form  No.   A-368 


PHOTO    BV    EDMONSTON      W  A  SH  1  NG  TQ  N  .   D     C 


WOODROW   WILSON 


AS 


PRESIDENT 


BY 


EUGENE  C.  BROOKS 

Pbofessob  of  Education,  Tbinity  College, 
dubham,  n.  c. 


CHICAGO  NEW   YORK 

ROW,  PETERSON  AND  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1916 
ROW,  PETERSON 
AND     COMPANY 


\jiJ15% 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Wilson  Administration  marks  the  end  of 
an  era.  It  is  divided  into  two  historic  periods 
separated  by  the  European  War,  which  draws  a 
hea\T  curtain  between  the  first  and  the  second  half 
of  his  Administration.  Moreover,  each  has  been 
so  crowded  with  events  of  vital  importance  to 
this  nation  as  to  assume  the  significance  of  a 
turning  point  in  history.  Therefore,  the  student 
of  history  will  find  in  this  period  the  beginnings 
of  questions  likely  to  occupy  the  public  attention 
for  generations  and  destined  to  shape  the  growth 
of  our  nation  for  all  time. 

In  the  conclusion  of  the  old  era  the  Wilson 
Administration  achieved,  perhaps,  the  most  not- 
able legislation  ever  enacted  in  an  equal  period 
of  time  in  the  history  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States.  However,  so  many  things  have 
occurred  since  then— ''the  terrible  swift  sword'' 
has  so  affected  men's  memories— that  even  those 
acts  have  been  almost  forgotten,  except  in  circles 
affected  directly  by  them.    The  reduced  tariff,  an 

^  .. 

Co  > 


6  INTRODUCTION 

income  tax,  the  banished  lobby,  the  Federal  Re- 
serve Act,  the  straggle  through  the  long,  hot 
summer  against  boss-rule  and  machine  methods, 
the  Alaska  railroad,  the  Clayton  Anti-Trust  Act, 
another  summer  of  intense  labor,  the  destruction 
of  monopoly,  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  the 
conservation  of  material  and  human  resources — 
these  suggest  an  era  long  removed  from  the 
present,  but  they  are  the  epitome  of  the  first  eigh- 
teen months  of  the  Wilson  Administration. 

The  sixty-third  Congress,  the  Long  Congress, 
brought  the  old  era  to  a  close  and  witnessed  the 
beginning  of  the  new.  In  it  will  be  found,  stand- 
ing close  together,  the  solution  of  old  problems 
and  the  beginnings  of  new  issues.  The  student  of 
history  who  recalls  the  vast  crowds  that  assembled 
in  1912  and  the  fiery  speeches  of  the  leaders  of 
that  time,  and  contrasts  the  marching  crowds  of 
1916  and  the  fiery  speeches  by  the  same  leaders 
to  the  same  people  on  different  issues,  must 
realize  that  in  the  meantime  affairs  of  consequence 
have  taken  place. 

A  vast  gulf  separates  1912  and  1916.  Men's 
thoughts  have  turned  about;  men's  ideas  have 
changed;  the  world  is  different;  it  is  drifting  on 
an  unknown  sea ;  seemingly  impossible  things  are 


INTRODUCTION  7 

liappening  daily;  and  no  man  knows  into  what 
kind  of  harbor  the  ship  will  at  last  be  moored. 
Fortunate  was  it  indeed  for  America  that  the 
issues  of  1912  were  really  settled  before  the  vital 
issues  of  1916  had  taken  shape  and  dw^arfed  all 
other  issues. 

The  European  war  has  changed  the  course  of 
history.  The  world  has  gone  mad.  Men  stand 
amazed,  shocked,  shuddering  at  the  fierceness  of 
this  insatiate  monster  which  threatens  a  break- 
down of  civilization  and  a  return  to  the  Dark 
Ages. 

Great  men  have  risen  among  us.  They  are 
grappling  heroically  with  the  problems  of  the  day 
just  as  did  the  great  men  in  other  crises  of  the 
world's  history. 

But  how  happens  it  that  America  alone  of  the 
great  nations  of  the  earth  is  so  happily  situated? 
Her  people  are  free  to  come  and  go,  to  think  and 
speak  and  act.  They  enjoy  unbounded  and  un- 
precedented prosperity.  Their  nation  has  come 
to  be  the  richest  on  earth.  Their  foreign  trade  is 
expanding  as  never  before,  itself  an  epoch  in  their 
history.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  qye  they  have 
changed  from  a  debtor  nation  to  a  creditor  nation 
and  have  become  the  leading  bankers  of  the  world. 


3  INTRODUCTION 

In  spite  of  the  world's  turmoil,  they  have  had 
leisure  in  calmness  and  with  deliberation  to 
settle  their  internal  affairs  and  to  mitigate  the 
evils  which  menace  the  processes  of  their  own 
development. 

Notwithstanding  these  favors,  new  issues  have 
arisen  as  a  result  of  the  great  war  that  are  now 
pressing  heavily  for  solution.  ** America  First'' 
is  a  watchword  with  which  to  stir  the  patriotism 
of  the  people.  *^The  melting-pot"  is  a  symbol 
that  tells  of  our  composite  character  in  a  time  of 
*^ civil  war  by  proxy."  ^^Pan  Americanism" 
speaks  of  a  new  continental  policy.  ^^Prepared- 
ness"— military  preparedness,  commercial  pre- 
paredness, industrial  preparedness,  and  educa- 
tional preparedness  suggest  other  problems  that 
this  war  has  brought  to  us  for  solution. 

Woodrow  Wilson,  the  President,  is  gTiiding  this 
nation  across  the  gulf  that  separates  the  past  from 
the  future.  He  has  established  a  marvelous  leader- 
ship and  has  become  one  of  the  world's  great 
figures  within  the  brief  span  of  four  years.  But 
how  did  he  reach  this  fine  eminence! 

He  laid  his  hand  upon  monopoly,  and  it  sur- 
rendered its  power.  He  drove  invisible  govern- 
ment   out    of    Washington    and    enthroned    the 


INTRODUCTION  9 

people's  representatives  as  sovereign  in  the 
Nation's  capital.  And  when  the  old  era  died  and 
the  new  appeared,  a  revitalized  democracy  faced 
the  future. 

He  called  to  Europe  when  the  mad  nations  had 
slipped  their  cables  and  sanity  returned.  He 
stretched  his  hand  to  the  Latin- American  republics 
and  they  grasped  it  in  an  hour  of  peril  and  the 
two  continents  became  friends.  He  stood  by  the 
prostrate  form  of  Mexico,  her  silent  friend,  and 
waited  patiently  for  the  re-birth  of  constitutional 
government.  He  kept  *  ^  America  First ' '  aflame  in 
the  hearts  of  patriots  and  partisans  until  hatred 
was  consumed  and  America,  *Hhe  melting-pot  of 
nations,''  was  prepared  to  meet  the  crises  of  this 
new  era. 

Such  is  the  story  that  runs  through  these 
chapter^. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  A  New  Champion  of  the  People  Appears 13 

II.  A  New  and  Untried  Leader  is  Chosen 25 

III.  Inaugurating  the  New  Regime 45 

IV.  A  New  Tariff:  the  First  Stage  in  the  Journey 

TO  New  Freedom 61 

V.    A  New  Currency  :  the  Second  Stage  in  the  Jour- 
ney         91 

VI.     The  Destruction  of  Monopoly:  the  Third  Stage 

OF  the  Journey 124 

VII.     The  End   of  the  Old   Regime 160 

VIII.     A  New  Foreign  Policy 166 

IX.    The   President   Broadens   the   Meaning   of   the 

Monroe  Doctrine 170 

X.     The  New  American  Policy  Applied  to  Mexico..   199 
XI.     President    Wilson's    Relations     with    General 

Carranza     229 

XII.     Good  Faith  and  Justice  Toward  all  Nations  . . .   259 

PART  II 


XIII.  The  European  War  and  a  New  Era 271 

XIV.  America    First 277 

XV.     Holding  the  World  to  Some  Standard 307 

XVI.  Military     Preparedness     Becomes     a     National 

Problem     352 

XVII.  The  President  Takes  the  Issue  to  the  People..   385 

XVIII.     The  Nation   for  Military   Preparedness 391 

XIX.     The  Need  of  Commercial  Preparedness 408 

XX.     The  Need   of   Industrial   Preparedness 441 

XXL     Forming   a   Pan-American   Union 477 

XXII.     The  Need  of  Educational  Preparedness 508 

XXIII.     The  Man    in    Action 520 

11 


APPENDIX 

SELECTIONS  FROM  WOODROW  WILSON'S 
PUBLIC  ADDRESSES 

PAGE 

The  Spirit  of  Penx 538 

John  Barry's    Example 540 

The  Plain  Men  of  the  Colonies 543 

The  Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 548 

Our  Duty  to  the  Defenders  of  the  Union 553 

The  New   Era 557 

The  American    Flag 550 

The  Meaning  of  the  Flag 560 

Let  No  Man  Create  Division 561 

What  America  Has  to  Fear 564 

Our  Neutrality  Misunderstood 566 

The  Lesson  of  the  War , 568 


12 


Woodrow  Wilson  as  President 

PART  I 
CHAPTER  I 

A  NEW  CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEOPLE  APPEARS 

Politics  in  the  year  1912  was  staged  with  all  the 
elements  of  the  melodrama.  Big  Business  was  the  vil- 
lain ;  the  people  *s  representatives  were  crying  for  relief ; 
the  star  players,  who  were  ready  to  lead  the  reform 
with  the  zeal  of  a  crusader,  were  coming  to  the  front 
for  a  round  of  applause;  and  from  the  anterooms  the 
crafty  agents  of  the  villain  were  conning  their  parts 
in  a  whispered  monotone.  Nor  was  the  drama  Avant- 
ing  in  the  elements  of  the  tragic  and  the  comic.  Big 
Business  w^as  accused  of  hideous  crimes  and  convicted 
of  many.  But  perhaps  its  most  objectionable  feature 
was  its  size  and  the  way  it  supported  its  weight,  which, 
like  the  corpulency  of  Sir  John  Falstaff,  was  a  ludicrous 
handicap  to  the  progress  of  the  drama.  However,  when 
the  curtain  arose,  Big  Business,  terrified  by  the 
confusion  resulting  from  a  clamor  of  accusations  and 
from  the  assaults  of  the  plumed  knights,  could  have 
exclaimed,  in  the  language  of  the  fat  comedian,  **It 

13 


14  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

were  better  to  be  eaten  to  deatli  with  a  rust  than  to  be 
scoured  to  nothing  with  perpetual  motion." 

But  here  the  analogy  must  end.  The  issues  of  the 
year  were  too  real  to  be  staged,  and  the  unremedied 
wrongs  too  tragic  to  be  used  for  an  evening's  enter- 
tainment. All  the  strength  of  the  old-time  political 
parties  was  accumulating  to  fight  one  great  evil,  and 
the  campaign  for  the  Presidency  was  turning  on  one 
issue — human  rights  against  material  rights.  This  prob- 
lem embraced  the  questions  of  monopoly,  of  special 
privilege,  of  governmental  policy,  and  of  the  rights  of 
a  free  people.  But  these  are  trite  and  time-worn 
phrases  which  for  a  generation  have  been  rolled  like 
sweet  morsels  by  friend  and  foe  of  liberty;  and  even 
in  very  remote  townships  they  have  served  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a  real  local  issue  to  elect  a  township  constable 
as  well  as  to  defeat  a  great  leader  for  the  Presidency. 

So  long  had  the  evils  of  monopoly  been  growing  in 
the  nation,  and  so  long  have  these  terms  of  abuse  been 
employed,  that  they  had  grown  smooth  from  the  abrasion 
of  perpetual  use.  Therefore,  when  the  campaign  of 
1912  opened,  they  had  almost  ceased  to  convey  an  idea 
to  many  minds,  and  their  chief  value  seemed  to  be  to 
enable  the  historian  or  the  political  economist  to  trace 
the  decline  of  political  freedom. 

However,  one  corporation  after  another  had  been 
brought  before  the  bar  of  justice  and  stories  of  real 
or  imagined  wrongs  had  been  trailed  through  the  press 


CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEOPLE  15 

of  the  country  so  long  that  the  conviction  that  Big 
Business  was  dishonest  and  unscrupulous,  deepened 
with  a  feeling  of  distrust  and  even  of  hatred.  Through- 
out the  nation,  therefore,  there  was  such  a  deep-seated 
hostility  to  it  that,  in  many  sections  of  the  country,  if 
a  large  corporation  went  into  the  courts  with  a  case 
that  was  at  all  doubtful,  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
secure  from  a  jury  a  verdict  in  its  favor.  Thus  the 
people  at  large  had  formed  a  habit  of  mind  that  was 
instinctively  hostile  to  great  wealth. 

On  the  other  hand,  Big  Business  had  formed  the 
habit  of  looking  to  the  Government  for  protection — 
protection  from  the  people,  protection  from  competi- 
tion, protection  from  interference.  The  close  relation- 
ship between  the  national  government  and  large  private 
interests  due  to  protection  gave  the  impression  that 
America  was  ruled  by  an  oligarchy  composed  of  the 
captains  of  industry.  In  order  to  protect  themselves, 
while  the  spirit  of  unrest  was  growing,  the  business  of 
the  country  became  so  interlaced  that  the  larger  indus- 
trial life  stood  like  a  house  of  cards  propped  together, 
the  good  and  the  bad,  and  when  the  government  at- 
tacked one,  it  appeared  to  be  attacking  all.  Therefore, 
it  seemed  that  the  government  had  to  protect  all  or 
disturb  all,  for  to  destroy  bad  business  threatened  dis- 
aster throughout  the  country. 

Privilege  in  one  form  or  another  had  grown  very 
complex,  very  pervasive,  and  could  be  seen  cropping 


16  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

out  everywhere.  It  had,  in  fact,  woven  itself  into  every 
part  of  our  political  life,  and  many  thinking  people 
had  come  honestly  to  the  conclusion  that  such  a  rela- 
tionship was  natural  and  that  whoever  disturbed  it 
was  an  enemy  to  good  government.  However,  there 
were  many  men,  even  among  the  captains  of  industry, 
who  were  profoundly  concerned  over  this  relationship, 
this  dependence  of  business  upon  governmental  pro- 
tection, and  this  interlocking  and  interlacing  of  inter- 
ests. Moreover,  the  plain  people,  the  great  middle 
class,  who  were  not  members  of  these  gigantic  concerns, 
and  who  never  asked  the  government  for  any  right 
save  to  live  their  lives  in  a  free  country,  had  felt  for 
a  generation  that  injustice  was  at  work  in  the  nation, 
since  Big  Business  did  not  owe  its  existence  nor  its 
large  profits  primarily  to  increasing  efficiency,  but  to 
the  control  of  the  market  through  the  destruction  of 
competition.  Thoughtful  men  in  both  parties  were 
aware  of  these  evils.  Moreover,  it  was  pointed  out, 
time  after  time,  that  the  art  of  making  a  living  must 
be  protected  more  and  more  effectively,  and  the  only 
thing  that  can  guarantee  the  progress  of  the  race  is 
competition,  or  cooperation  that  does  not  destroy  com- 
petition. 

As  the  summer  of  1912  was  approaching,  when  the 
political  parties  were  to  select  their  candidates  for  the 
Presidency,  the  issue  was  reduced  almost  to  this  simple 
proposition — monopoly   must  be   destroyed   and   com- 


CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEOPLE  17 

petition  restored.  But  monopoly  had  grown  up  under 
the  protection  of  the  government,  although  the  officers 
of  the  government  all  had  been  avowed  enemies  of  spe- 
cial privilege.  This  was  the  anomalous  and  very  extraor- 
dinary condition,  the  Gordian  knot  that  the  nation 
— Big  Business  as  well  as  the  people  at  large — de- 
sired to  see  cut.  But  it  was  a  Herculean  task  that 
confronted  the  political  parties,  and  the  people  every- 
where were  asking  this  question,  Would  a  champion 
come  forth  who  could  command  the  strength  to  win  ? 

The  people  had  struggled  for  twenty  years  against 
trusts  and  monopolies,  and  they  were  now  calling  for 
a  leader,  a  man  of  wisdom  and  integrity  and  power. 
And  it  mattered  little  from  what  political  party  he 
should  comCi 

There  were  two  great  national  leaders  in  the  fulness 
of  their  power,  and  to  them,  more  than  to  any  others, 
the  nation  looked  for  guidance  in  the  matter — one  was 
William  Jennings  Bryan,  a  Democrat;  and  the  other 
was  Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  Republican. 

Mr.  Bryan  had  been  nominated  for  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States  three  times  and  three  times  had 
been  defeated ;  yet  his  leadership  remained.  He  seemed 
to  thrive  on  defeat.  However,  after  his  first  defeat 
in  1896  he  established  a  newspaper.  From  that  and 
from  the  proceeds  of  his  lectures  he  provided  himself 
with  freedom  of  action  to  go  anywhere  at  any  time  and 
address  the  people  on  the  issues  of  the  day.    The  most 


18  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

brilliant  orator  of  his  generation,  he  attracted  great 
audiences  wherever  he  spoke,  and  he  went  everywhere 
— he  knew  everybody  and  everybody  knew  him.  He 
was  the  King  of  Chautauqua  platforms.  He  possessed 
wonderful  physical  vitality  and  seemed  never  to  tire. 
For  sixteen  years  he  had  voiced  the  unrest  of  the  na- 
tion, and  there  was  no  doubt  that  he  felt  as  the  people 
felt.  He  knew  that  something  was  wrong,  and  he  spoke 
his  feelings  in  such  terms  as  to  stir  his  audience  wher- 
ever he  went.  In  this  way  he  contributed  powerfully 
to  arousing  the  people  to  a  sense  of  their  wrongs. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  had  been  President  of  the  United 
States  for  seven  years.  During  his  occupancy  of  that 
office  his  sayings  and  his  doings  continually  held  pop- 
ular interest,  and  he,  too,  with  the  prestige  of  his  high 
office  giving  force  to  his  speeches,  proclaimed  that 
things  were  wrong.  He  was  so  powerful  that  he  had 
not  only  been  re-elected  for  a  second  term,  but  he  had 
dictated  the  nomination  of  his  successor,  taken  from 
his  own  cabinet,  and  had  materially  assisted  in  the 
election  which  followed.  He  was  gifted  with  marvelous 
political  sagacity,  and  he  had  the  prestige  of  never 
having  been  beaten.  He  had  contributed  greatly  to 
the  spread  of  progressive  ideas,  and  the  full  force  of 
his  dramatic  personality  was  thrown  into  the  campaign 
for  the  Presidency. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Bryan  were  the  antithesis  of 
each  other.     What  the  one  was  the  other  was  not,  and 


CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEOPLE  19 

willingly  they  agreed  on  nothing;  yet  each  knew  that 
something  was  wrong.  They  agreed  as  to  many  of  the 
things  that  were  wrong,  but  they  differed  fundamen- 
tally as  to  how  to  remedy  the  wrong.  The  year  1912 
found  both  of  them  private  citizens,  and  yet  they  were 
the  two  most  powerful  men  in  the  nation  because  of 
their  influence  with  the  people. 

All  the  forces  of  reform  seemed  to  gather  headway 
as  the  great  national  conventions  of  1912  began  to 
take  shape,  and  striking  scenes  were  witnessed.  Mr. 
Koosevelt  fought  Big  Business  in  the  Republican 
party,  but  he  was  beaten  in  the  Chicago  Convention 
amidst  the  most  dramatic  scenes.  He  withdrew  from 
the  party,  organized  a  third  party,  became  its  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  and  began  one  of  the  most  spec- 
tacular campaigns  in  the  history  of  the  Republic. 

President  Taft  was  renominated  by  the  Republican 
party ;  but  he  was  not  a  great  leader.  Neither  his  hon- 
esty, his  patriotism,  nor  his  ability  was  seriously  ques- 
tioned. But,  when  he  was  in  the  wrong,  he  did  not 
have  the  adroitness  to  make  his  cause  appear  the  better, 
and  when  he  was  in  the  right,  he  did  not  have  the 
power  to  evoke  popular  support.  He  was  characterized 
as  *^a  very  poor  politician,  with  no  instinct  for  read- 
ing the  signs  of  the  times  or  for  discharging  the  high 
duties  of  his  office  in  a  way  to  arouse  enthusiasm  for 
inspiring  leadership.'* 

Scarcely  had  the  echoes  of  the  Republican  convention 


20  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

at  Chicago  died  away  when  the  struggle  was  renewed 
in  the  Democratic  convention  at  Baltimore.  There  Mr. 
Bryan  fought  Big  Business  amidst  scenes  not  less 
exciting  than  those  at  Chicago.  As  the  contest  con- 
tinued and  the  agents  of  monopoly  appeared  more 
active,  Mr.  Bryan,  in  a  dramatic  attack  on  what  seemed 
to  be  the  attempt  of  Big  Business  to  control  the 
nomination,  withdrew  his  support  from  one  candidate 
and  threw  the  weight  of  his  great  influence  to  a  less 
favored  son  in  the  convention,  and  Governor  Woodrow 
Wilson,  of  NcAv  Jersey,  was  nominated.  Thus  was 
ushered  into  the  limelight  a  third  great  personality. 

The  Democratic  nominee  was  referred  to  as  **the 
scholar  in  politics."  He  had  been  a  teacher  of  history 
and  political  economy,  and  had  won  distinction  as  an 
interpreter  of  modern  sociological  and  political  prob- 
lems and  institutions.  Moreover,  he  was  a  recognized 
writer  of  force,  and  his  books  on  government  were 
widely  used  both  in  Europe  and  America.  The  teacher 
and  writer  became  president  of  Princeton  University  in 
1902,  but  his  executive  duties  did  not  deter  him  from 
discussing  political  problems,  and  in  the  period  from 
1902  to  1910  while  Mr.  Bryan  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  were 
active  in  politics,  Mr.  Wilson  was  analyzing  for  the 
nation  the  problems  of  government  and  pointing  to 
definite  solutions. 

But  he  did  not  enter  politics  until  1907,  when  his 
friends  in  New  Jersey  brought  him  out  as  a  candidate 


CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEOPLE  21 

for  the  United  States  Senate.  Three  years  later  (1910) 
he  was  nominated  for  Governor.  Only  his  most  en- 
thusiastic friends  believed  he  could  be  elected.  New- 
Jersey  had  been  under  Republican  rule,  and  for  the 
most  of  that  time  under  boss  rule  of  the  most  distinct 
type.  However,  Mr.  Wilson  took  the  stump  and  at 
once  loomed  large  as  a  political  campaigner.  His 
speeches  were  so  effective  that  he  rapidly  obtained  a 
large  following.  Metropolitan  newspapers  featured  his 
addresses.  He  was  again  the  interpreter  of  political 
institutions  and  in  his  own  state  he  had  a  concrete  illus- 
tration of  private  control  of  political  institutions  and 
the  loss  of  individual  freedom  and  initiative.  He  was 
elected,  and  this  remarkable  achievement  made  him  a 
Presidential  possibility,  and  in  1912  he  was  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Democratic  convention. 

The  three  parties  introduced  their  respective  chiefs 
to  the  nation,  compiled  their  platforms  and  came  be- 
fore the  people,  each  asking  for  the  election  of  its 
candidate.  Each  asserted  emphatically  that  monopoly 
should  be  destroyed,  and  that  in  order  to  make  the 
destruction  natural  as  well  as  complete,  the  cause  of 
monopolies  should  be  removed.  But  men  could  not 
agree  as  to  the  cause  of  monopoly.  Was  the  protective 
tariff  the  leading  cause?  That  was  the  question.  Mr. 
Taft,  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party,  said  he 
was  pledged  in  the  Republican  platform  to  ''maintain 
a  degree  of  protection."    Mr.  Wilson  was  opposed  to 


22  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

all  forms  of  protection.  But  Mr.  Roosevelt's  position 
was  not  so  clear.  He  said,  ''We  believe  in  a  tariff  for 
labor — a  tariff  to  help  our  wage  workers." 

Were  monopoly  and  trusts  the  result,  in  part,  of  our 
currency  laws  ?  The  Republican  platform  declared  that 
**our  banking  arrangements  today  need  further  revision 
to  meet  the  requirement  of  current  conditions.''  The 
Democratic  party  said  that  the  nation  should  be  freed 
*'from  control  or  dominion  by  what  is  known  as  the 
money  trust.  Banks  exist  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  public,  and  not  for  the  control  of  business,"  and 
all  legislation  should  provide  ' '  absolute  security  to  the 
public  and  complete  protection  from  the  misuse  of  the 
power  given  to  those  who  possess  it."  The  Progress- 
ives declared  that ' '  the  present  method  of  issuing  notes 
through  private  agencies  is  harmful  and  unscientific." 

However,  the  complaint  against  our  banking  laws  ex- 
tended beyond  the  bounds  of  political  parties.  There 
was  considerable  difference  of  opinion  among  the  bank- 
ers themselves.  The  American  Bankers '  Association  in 
convention  at  Detroit  declared  ''that  this  Association 
will  cooperate  with  any  and  all  people  in  devising  a 
financial  system  for  this  country  which  will  place  us 
on  a  par  with  other  great  commercial  and  competing 
nations;  a  system  which  shall  give  to  the  American 
people  of  all  classes  and  conditions  the  financial  facili- 
ties and  industrial  advantages  to  which  they  are  en- 
titled. ' ' 


CHAMPION  OF  THE  PEOrLE  23 

Was  there  anything  inherently  wrong  in  the  organ- 
ization of  business  ?  All  parties  agreed  that  there  was, 
and  the  indictments  under  the  Sherman  anti-trust  law 
were  convincing  to  the  nation.  Moreover,  Big  Busi- 
ness, being  ' '  scoured  to  nothing  with  perpetual  motion, ' ' 
was  asking  for  relief,  for  surcease  from  agitation  and 
for  a  clear  cut  road  to  public  favor.  Who  could  give  it ; 
Mr.  Roosevelt  and  the  Progressives,  Mr.  Taft  and  the 
Republicans,  or  Mr.  Wilson  and  the  Democrats? 

The  eyes  of  the  nation  soon  became  fixed  on  two 
of  the  candidates — on  Theodore  Roosevelt,  because  of 
his  spectacular  fight  against  the  Republican  party ;  and 
on  Woodrow  Wilson,  because  of  the  extraordinary 
chain  of  events  that  had  produced  his  nomination.  The 
Democratic  party,  notwithstanding  the  great  conven- 
tion fight,  was  more  united  that  it  had  been  since  1896. 
People  everywhere  w^ere  talking  about  ''Wilson  luck.'^ 
He  was  nominated  in  the  face  of  machine  politics  and 
the  money  interests.  Even  ]\Ir.  Roosevelt  had  praised 
him  highly,  not  suspecting  for  a  moment  he  could  be 
nominated.  He  appeared  before  the  nation  at  a  time 
when  the  Republican  party  was  hopelessly  divided. 
Even  in  the  councils  of  his  party,  objectionable  men 
withdrew  and  left  the  management  in  the  hands  of  his 
friends,  and  opposition  within  the  Democratic  party 
seemed  to  fade  away  without  a  protest.  Then  came 
the  news  from  Sea  Girt,  his  summer  home,  that  he 
would  conduct  his  campaign  for  election  Avithout  the 


24  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

aid  of  the  National  Committeemen.  ''Remarkable 
man!"  they  said.  And  many  non-Calvinists  really 
hoped  there  was  something  in  predestination. 

The  office  of  President  has  become  much  more  com- 
plicated than  it  used  to  be ;  and,  since  it  was  a  prob- 
ability that  Mr.  Wilson  would  be  elected  if  the  split 
in  the  Republican  party  continued,  men  all  over  the 
world  were  wondering  and  asking  one  another  what 
constructive  qualities  he  possessed  and  what  power  of 
resistance  he  had.  His  "Essays  on  Government'*  were 
reread,  his  books  of  history  became  popular  at  once, 
his  characterizations  of  American  statesmen  were  ap- 
praised, and  his  political  theories  were  growing  in 
popularity.    A  new  leader,  indeed,  had  appeared. 


CHAPTER  II 
AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  IS  CHOSEN 

The  campaign  of  1912  was  unique.  Party  control 
was  weak  and  machine  politics  were  mechanical  and 
unnatural.  The  management  of  the  campaign  was  in 
the  hands  of  young  men;  the  press  bureau  rose  into 
prominence ;  and  a  direct  appeal  to  the  people  took  the 
place  of  the  ** inside  room"  conference. 

On  August  7  Governor  Wilson  was  formally  notified 
that  he  was  the  choice  of  the  Democratic  party  for  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States.  He  had  remained 
silent  since  his  nomination.  But  on  this  occasion  party 
leaders  signaled  to  him  to  come  forth  from  his  tem- 
porary retirement  and  speak  to  the  nation.  And  he 
came  forth,  the  man  in  action,  to  translate  his  political 
philosophy,  seasoned  with  mature  thought,  into  a  new 
freedom  for  the  American  people. 

It  was  a  part  of  Mr.  Wilson's  temperament  as  well 
as  his  philosophy  to  hold  steadfastly  to  a  small  body 
of  clear  cut  doctrines,  the  central  idea  of  w^hich  was 
the  great  issue  already  before  the  people — the  doc- 
trine that  government  should  have  nothing  to  do 
with  special  privilege.    His  speech  of  acceptance  was 

received  by  the  people  as  a  fine  product  of  a  public 

25 


26  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

man  of  right  convictions.  Its  greatest  significance,  it 
was  said  at  the  time  of  its  utterance,  lies  in  its  appeal 
''for  the  emancipation  of  our  public  life  from  its 
domination  by  private  interests  and  by  a  class  of  men 
who  are  in  politics  for  their  own  personal  benefit. 

''We  stand/'  he  said,  '4n  the  presence  of  an 
awakened  Nation,  impatient  of  partisan  make- 
believe.  The  public  man  w^ho  does  not  realize  the 
fact  and  feel  its  stimulation  must  be  singularly 
unsusceptible  to  the  influences  that  stir  in  every 
quarter  about  him.  The  Nation  has  a^vakened  to 
a  sense  of  neglected  ideals  and  neglected  duties; 
to  a'  consciousness  that  the  rank  and  file  of  her 
people  find  life  very  hard  to  sustain,  that  her 
young  men  find  opportunity  embarrassed,  and  that 
her  older  men  find  business  difficult  to  renew  and 
maintain  because  of  circumstances  of  privilege 
and  private  advantage  w^hich  have  interlaced  their 
subtle  threads  throughout  almost  every  part  of 
the  framew^ork  of  our  present  law.  She  has 
awakened  to  the  knowledge  that  she  has  lost 
certain  cherished  liberties  and  has  wasted  price- 
less resources  w^hich  she  had  solemnly  undertaken 
to  hold  in  trust  for  posterity  and  for  all  mankind ; 
and  to  the  conviction  that  she  stands  confronted 
wdth  an  occasion  for  constrictive  statesmanship 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  27 

such  as  has  not  arisen  since  the  great  days  in 
which  her  Government  was  set  up. ' ' 

He  called  the  nation  to  witness  that  a  new  age  was 
at  hand,  regardless  of  which  candidate  was  elected. 
The  suspicion  and  mistrust  and  confusion,  he  argued, 
all  warned  those  in  authority  and  those  who  worked 
to  be  placed  in  authority  that  we  were  on  the  divide 
and  governmental  process  of  the  future  would  never 
again  be  the  same  as  those  of  the  past.  Then  he 
asked,  ''What  is  there  to  do?" 

**It  is  hard  to  sum  up  the  great  task,  but 
apparently  this  is  the  sum  of  the  matter :  There 
are  two  great  things  to  do.  One  is  to  set  up  the 
rule  of  justice  and  of  right  in  such  matters  as  the 
tarifp,  the  regulation  of  the  trusts,  and  the  preven- 
tion of  monopoly,  the  adaptation  of  our  banking 
and  currency  laws  to  the  various  uses  to  which  our 
people  must  put  them,  the  treatment  of  those  who 
do  the  daily  labor  in  our  factories  and  mines  and 
throughout  all  our  great  commercial  and  indus- 
trial undertakings,  and  the  political  life  of  the 
people  of  the  Philippines,  for  whom  we  hold 
governmental  power  in  trust,  for  their  service,  not 
our  own.  The  other,  the  additional  duty,  is  the 
great   task    of   protecting   our   people    and    our 


28  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

resources  and  of  keeping  open  to  the  whole  people 
the  doors  of  opportunity  through  which  they  must, 
generation  by  generation,  pass  if  they  are  to  make 
conquest  of  their  fortunes  in  health,  in  freedom, 
in  peace,  and  in  contentment.    In  the  performance 
of  this  second  duty  we  are  face  to  face  with  ques- 
tions of  conservation  and  of  development,  ques- 
tions of  forests  and  water  powers  and  mines  and 
waterways,  of  the  building  of  an  adequate  mer- 
chant marine,  and  the  opening  of  every  highway 
and  facility  and  the  setting  up  of  every  safeguard 
needed  by  a  great,  industrious,  expanding  nation. 
^' These  are  all  great  matters  on  which  every- 
body should  be  heard.    We  have  got  into  trouble 
in  recent  years  chiefly  because  these  large  things, 
which  ought  to  have  been  handled  by  taking  coun- 
sel with  as  large  a  number  of  people  as  possible, 
because  they  touched  every  interest  and  the  life 
of  every  class  and  region,  have  in  fact  been  too 
often  handled  in  private  conference.     They  have 
been  settled  by  very  small,  and  often  deliberately 
exclusive,  groups  of  men  who  undertook  to  speak 
for  the  whole  nation,  or  rather  for  themselves  in 
the  terms  of  the  whole  nation — very  honestly  it 
may  be  true,  but  very  ignorantly  sometimes,  and 
very   shortsightedly,   too— a   poor   substitute   for 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  29 

genuine  common  counsel.  No  group  of  directors, 
economic  or  political,  can  speak  for  a  people. 
They  have  neither  the  point  of  view  nor  the 
knowledge.  Our  difficulty  is  not  that  wicked  and 
designing  men  have  plotted  against  us,  but  that 
our  common  affairs  have  been  determined  upon 
too  narrow  a  view,  and  by  too  private  an  initiative. 
Our  task  is  now  to  effect  a  great  readjustment  and 
get  the  forces  of  the  whole  people  once  more  into 
play.  We  need  no  revolution ;  we  need  no  excited 
change ;  we  need  only  a  new  point  of  view  and  a 
new  method  and  spirit  of  counsel. '  * 

It  was  a  part  of  Mr.  Wilson's  philosophy  that  the 
proper  point  of  view  is  obtained  not  from  the  cloistered 
library  nor  from  the  ^'inside  room"  of  political  man- 
agers, but  from  taking  counsel  with  the  body  of  the 
nation.  Therefore,  in  closing  his  address,  he  announced 
with  refreshing  frankness  a  new  policy  that  would  be 
inaugurated  if  he  should  become  President. 

**No  man  can  be  just  who  is  not  free,**  he  said, 
*^and  no  man  who  has  to  show  favor  ought  to 
undertake  the  solemn  responsibility  of  govern- 
ment, in  any  rank  or  post  whatever,  least  of  all  in 
the  supreme  post  of  President  of  the  United 
States. 


30  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

**To  be  free  is  not  necessarily  to  be  wise.  But 
wisdom  comes  with  counsel,  with  the  frank  and 
free  conference  of  untrammeled  men  united  in  the 
common  interest.  Should  I  be  entrusted  with  the 
great  office  of  President,  I  would  seek  counsel 
wherever  it  could  be  had  upon  free  terms.  I  know 
the  temper  of  the  great  convention  which  nom- 
inated me ;  I  know  the  temper  of  the  country  which 
lay  back  of  that  convention  and  spoke  through  it. 
I  heed  with  deep  thankfulness  the  message  you 
bring  me  from  it.  I  feel  that  I  am  surrounded  by 
men  whose  principles  and  ambitions  are  those  of 
true  servants  of  the  people.  I  thank  God,  and  will 
take  courage." 

This  address  became,  of  course,  a  campaign  docu- 
ment, and  as  such  it  was  a  mark  for  the  critics.  It 
was  considered  by  some  as  ** intensely  radical,"  and 
by  others  as  ** unduly  conservative."  But  it  was  re- 
ceived in  the  main  as  a  *  legitimate  political  discussion, 
upon  a  high  plane,"  and  the  press  was  almost  unani- 
mous in  its  praise.  Mr.  Wilson  was  calling  for  a  great 
readjustment — a  judgment  day  that  the  nation  feared. 
Yet  all  the  time  it  Avas  becoming  clearer  that  the  read- 
justment must  come.  Could  this  man  who  had  been 
in  political  life  only  two  years  bring  **the  forces  of 
the  whole  people  once  more  into  play?" 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  3I 

It  was  an  unusual  campaign.  The  Democratic  leader 
and  the  Democratic  policies  received  a  minimum  of 
criticism.  The  great  fight  was  between  the  two  Repub- 
lican factions.  While  the  political  leaders  of  the  old 
Republican  party  were  fighting  each  other  with  the 
bitterness  of  a  domestic  row  or  a  church  feud,  Woodrow 
Wilson  was  moving  toward  the  Presidency  with  the 
Democratic  party  behind  him.  His  campaign  was  con- 
ducted with  personal  tact  and  dignity.  Nowhere  was 
he  a  popular  idol,  but  his  personality  kept  increasing 
its  hold  upon  the  public,  which  at  first  thought  of  him 
in  his  academic  capacity.  But  he  had  been  too  long 
before  the  American  people  as  a  writer  and  speaker 
and  he  had  too  many  defenders  in  the  nation  for  his 
detractors  to  ridicule  him  out  of  the  race.  It  was 
said  in  his  defense  that  ''as  an  administrator  he  has 
carried  on  the  affairs  of  a  great  university,  a  position 
which  in  our  country  trains  for  governmental  admin- 
istration better  than  almost  any  other  kind  of  experi- 
ence," and  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  educa- 
tional executive  was  increased.  Furthermore,  it  was 
declared  that  ''as  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  he  has 
shovrn  that  he  can  meet  the  exigencies  of  political 
parties  with  firmness  and  upon  high  ground,"  and  his 
candidacy  was  strengthened. 

Throughout  the  campaign  his  political  opponents 
naturally  did  their  best  to  find  debating  ground  against 
his  views  as  expressed  from  time  to  time.    But,  at  the 


32  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

conclusion,  it  Avas  declared  even  by  his  generous  ad- 
versaries that  *'he  kept  an  admirable  poise  and 
temper,  talked  generalities  in  a  charming  manner,  and 
found  himself  on  good  terms  with  everybody  at  the 
end  of  his  campaign. ' '  Since  his  election,  Mr.  Wilson 's 
campaign  addresses  have  been  collected,  rearranged, 
and  published  under  the  title  of  *  *  The  New  Freedom. ' ' 
But  throughout  the  campaign  he  held  the  attention  of 
the  nation  to  one  central  issue:  ** Private  monopoly  is 
indefensible  and  intolerable,"  and  the  causes  of 
monopoly — the  protective  tariff,  our  centralized  cur- 
rency, and  our  inadequate  anti-trust  laws — must  be 
removed. 

It  was  a  remarkable  campaign.  In  the  first  place, 
the  country  was  in  a  prosperous  condition.  The  largest 
and  most  profitable  harvest  in  history  was  at  hand. 
Labor  was  unusually  well  employed.  The  iron  output 
was  the  largest  in  history,  and  the  money  market  was 
unusually  strong.  This  was  certainly  not  a  good  year 
for  the  political  agitator.  But  it  was  an  opportune 
time  to  call  attention  in  an  unimpassioned  way  to  a 
fundamental  weakness  in  the  nation  and  to  take  care- 
ful steps  to  remedy  the  defect  before  a  period  of  de- 
pression should  make  an  opening  for  the  agitator. 
Therefore,  as  a  result  of  the  greatest  campaign  since 
the  slavery  controversy,  the  nation  was  bound  to  profit, 
regardless  of  who  was  elected.  And  Mr.  Wilson  was 
right — a  new  era  was  at  hand. 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  33 

As  the  campaign  came  to  a  close,  Mr.  Wilson's  elec- 
tion was  predicted,  but  the  outcome  was  by  no  means 
certain.  Many  declared  that  it  was  altogether  prob- 
able that  there  would  be  no  election  and  that  the  next 
President  would  be  selected  by  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. It  was  a  season  when  machine  methods 
would  not  work,  and  machine  estimates  were  unre- 
liable. Therefore,  the  nation  was  prepared  to  accept 
without  much  comment  the  election  of  any  of  the  three 
candidates. 

After  sixteen  years  of  protesting,  the  Democratic 
party  was  again  entrusted  with  the  destiny  of  the 
nation,  and  Woodrow  Wilson,  the  teacher  and  phil- 
osopher, saw  a  nation  in  confusion  crown  him  with 
authority  to  lead  it  back  into  paths  of  right  and  justice 
and  freedom. 

There  was,  of  course,  unrestrained  joy  over  the  re- 
sults. The  enthusiasts  were  wild  and  referred  to  the 
' '  victory  "  as  a  ' '  great  revolution ' '  with  the  Republican 
party  fallen  ''into  a  heap  of  shapeless  ruin."  How- 
ever, Mr.  Wilson,  the  President-elect,  was  too  wise  to 
be  deceived  by  the  size  of  the  electoral  vote. 

"I  want  everybody  to  realize  that  I  was  not 
taken  in  by  the  results  of  the  last  national  elec- 
tion,'' he  said.  ''It  was  impossible  for  it  to  go 
Republican,  because  it  couldn't  tell  which  kind  of 
Republican  to  go.    The  only  united,  helpful  instru- 


34  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ment  with  which  it  could  accomplish  its  purpose 
was  the  Democratic  party,  and  what  it  did  was 
to  say  this : 

a  <  There  are  certain  things  that  we  want  to 
see  done,  not  certain  persons  whom  we  want  to  see 
elevated;  there  are  certain  things  we  want  to 
see  administered.  This  great  United  States  can 
no  longer  be  controlled  by  special  interests.  Now 
we  are  going  to  try  the  Democratic  party  as  our 
instrument  to  discover  these  things.  If  the  try  is 
not  successful,  we  will  never  make  it  again.  We 
want  an  instrument  in  our  hands  by  which  we  can 
be  masters  of  our  own  affairs.  It  looks  likely  that 
this  is  a  suitable  and  representative  instrument; 
therefore,  we  will  try  it. '  ' ' 

It  had  become  a  political  habit  to  discuss  and  abuse 
monopoly  in  the  midst  of  a  great  campaign.  But  even 
after  the  November  election,  the  question  would  not 
down  as  usual.  When  the  last  session  of  the  Sixty- 
second  Congress  convened  in  December,  the  Pujo  in- 
vestigating committee  seemed  determined  to  prove  that 
a  consciously  constructed  ^' money  trust"  did  exist, 
which  had  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  the  finan- 
cial world.  Such  activity  could  not  be  for  campaign 
purposes,  because  the  campaign  was  over. 

This  committee  was  giving  the  nation  one  sensation 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  35 

after  another.  Heads  of  great  corporations  were  called 
to  Washington  and  testified  concerning  the  methods 
of  great  corporations,  and  it  was  said  that  business  was 
panicky  and  Wall  Street  w^as  having  **an  attack  of 
nerves."  Although  the  existence  of  a  money  trust 
was  not  entirely  proved,  it  was  shown  that  a  gigantic 
concentration  of  money  power  did  exist  and  with  it 
a  very  large  control  over  banking  credit.  This  evil, 
it  was  said,  w^as  due  to  our  antiquated  and  inadequate 
banking  laws.  Even  some  of  the  leading  bankers  of 
the  country  testified  that  **  concentration  to  the  point 
it  has  gone  is  a  menace,"  and  that  if  the  power  result- 
ing from  this  concentration  should  fall  into  **good 
hands,  I  do  not  see  that  it  would  do  any  harm;  but 
if  it  got  into  bad  hands,  it  w^ould  be  very  bad." 

The  next  question  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  was.  What  effect  will  these  disclosures  have  on 
President-elect  Wilson,  who  is  a  man  of  * '  great  at- 
tainments and  high  character?"  His  closest  friends 
advised  the  nation  that  honest  business  w^ould  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  him  since,  ' '  He  works  in  the  open. 
His  task  is  done  within  sight  and  sound  of  the  people. 
There  can  be  no  invisible  government.  He  has  often 
said  that  what  he  did  as  Governor  of  New  Jersey  was 
to  create  a  situation  wherein  men  were  free  to  act 
and  work  openly."  But  the  situation  in  Washington 
had  been  so  different,  it  was  declared,  that  the  honest 


36  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

people  ''down  home"  could  not  even  understand  the 
official  language  of  the  Capitol. 

It  is  quite  probable,  therefore,  that  so  much  concern 
for  the  future  had  not  been  felt  since  the  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  any  public  utterance  by  the 
President-elect  would  naturally  be  subjected  to  the 
closest  scrutiny.  He  remained  silent  until  the  last  of 
December.  In  the  meantime,  the  Pujo  committee  had 
been  at  work  and  business  was  declaring  that  ''times 
look  bad."  Mr.  Wilson  was  back  in  the  land  of  his 
birth,  in  Staunton,  Virginia.  There  he  declared  again 
the  principles  that  should  guide  him  in  his  administra- 
tion. He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  20th 
century  is  very  much  like  the  beginning  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury, and  that  we  have  come  back  to  the  fundamental 
question  of  that  period — the  relation  of  governments 
to  humanity,  and  continuing,  he  said: 

*^We  are  learning  again  that  the  service  of 
humanity  is  the  best  business  of  mankind,  and  that 
the  business  of  mankind  must  be  set  forward  by 
the  government  which  mankind  sets  up,  in  order 
that  justice  may  be  done  and  mercy  not  forgotten. 
All  the  world,  I  say,  is  turning  now,  as  never 
before,  to  this  conception  of  the  elevation  of 
humanity,  not  of  the  preferred  few,  not  of  those 
who  can  by  superior  wit  or  unusual  opportunity 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  37 

struggle  to  the  top,  no  matter  whom  they  trample 
under  feet,  but  of  men  who  cannot  struggle  to  the 
top  and  who  must,  therefore,  be  looked  to  by  the 
forces  of  society,  for  they  have  no  single  force  by 
which  they  can  serve  themselves. 

^' There  must  be  heart  in  a  government  and  in 
the  policies  of  the  government.  And  men  must 
look  to  it,  that  they  do  unto  others  as  they  would 
have  others  do  unto  them.  This  has  long  been 
the  theme  of  the  discourses  of  Christian  ministers, 
but  it  has  not  come  to  be  part  of  the  bounden  duties 
of  Ministers  of  State. 

^^This  is  the  solemnity  that  comes  upon  a  man 
when  he  knows  that  he  is  about  to  be  clothed  with 
the  responsibilities  of  a  great  office,  in  which  will 
center  part  of  the  example  which  America  shall 
set  to  the  world  itself.  Do  you  suppose  that  that 
gives  a  man  a  very  light  hearted  Christmas?  I 
could  pick  out  some  gentlemen,  not  confined  to  one 
state — gentlemen  likelv  to  be  associated  with  the 

CD  •' 

government  of  the  United  States — who  have  not 
yet  had  it  dawned  upon  their  intelligence  what  it 
is  that  Government  is  set  up  to  do.  There  are 
men  who  will  have  to  be  mastered  in  order  that 
they  shall  be  made  the  instruments  of  justice  and 
mercy. ' ' 


38  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

He  declared  that  the  task  ahead  was  not  a  ''rose- 
water  affair,"  that  there  must  be  some  good  hard  fight- 
ing in  order  that  we  may  achieve  the  things  that  we 
have  set  out  to  achieve.  He  then  hurled  a  challenge 
to  Big  Business  that  sent  a  thrill  throughout  the  busi- 
ness world. 

^'The  word  that  stands  at  the  center  of  what 
has  to  be  done  is  a  very  interesting  word  indeed. 
It  has  hitherto  been  supposed  to  be  a  word  of 
charity,  a  word  of  philanthropy,  a  word  which  has 
to  do  with  the  operations  of  the  human  heart, 
rather  than  with  the  operations  of  the  human  mind. 
I  mean  the  word  ^service.'  The  one  thing  that 
the  business  men  of  the  United  States  are  now 
discovering,  some  of  them  for  themselves,  and 
some  of  them  by  suggestion,  is  that  they  are  not 
going  to  be  allowed  to  make  any  money  except 
for  a  quid  pro  quo,  that  they  must  render  a  service 
or  get  nothing,  and  that  in  the  regulation  of  busi- 
ness the  government,  that  is  to  say,  the  moral 
judgment  of  the  majority  must  determine  whether 
what  they  are  doing  is  a  service  or  not  a  service, 
and  that  everything  in  business  and  politics  is 
going  to  be  reduced  to  the  standard.  *Are  you 
giving  anything  to  society  when  you  want  to  take 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  39 

anytliing  out  of  society?'  is  the  question  to  put  to 
them/' 

The  nation  read  with  eagerness  that  address  the 
next  morning.  The  Pujo  Committee  was  still  at  work, 
and  there  was  a  panicky  feeling  along  the  arteries  of 
business.  Editorials  larger,  yes  much  larger,  than 
the  address  appeared.  They  referred  to  his  "service 
of  humanity"  as  being  somewhat  platitudinous.  But 
his  reference  to  Big  Business  and  the  necessity  for  a 
quid  pro  quo  made  this  paternalistic  government  shiver, 
and  Jefferson  was  quoted  to  prove  that  democracy 
and  government  had  had  nothing  to  do  w^ith  this 
quid  pro  quo.  It  was  said  that  Mr.  Wilson  would  have 
so  many  duties  to  perform — *Hhe  plain,  old-fashioned, 
needful  things  he  will  be  called  upon  to  do,  we  are  in- 
clined to  think,  that  the  realization  of  the  *  vision  splen- 
did' by  which  he  at  present  'moves  attended'  may 
easily  be — and  probably  will  have  to  be — for  a  con- 
siderable time  postponed."  But  one  thing  was  ad- 
mitted, Mr.  Wilson  spoke  very  clearly  and  distinctly, 
and  when  he  reduced  his  thoughts  to  writing,  he  did  use 
very  good  English.  It  w^as  so  simple  that  the  plain 
man  could  understand  it,  and  the  nation  would  soon 
learn  his  theories  if  he  wrote  and  spoke  enough.  It 
did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  another  word  from  him. 

In  January,  1913,  the  President-elect  entered  the 
very    heart    of    the    Big    Business    district    and    spoke 


40  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

to  the  Commercial  Club  of  Chicago.  *'I  came,"  he 
said,  ^*to  ask  your  counsel  and  assistance."  It  was 
very  clear,  therefore,  that  Big  Business  must  really 
reckon  with  this  educationist  who  believed  in  **  right 
and  justice,"  and  the  Golden  Rule.  He  called  their 
attention  to  an  "  inner  circle, ' '  and  to  a  banking  system 
''that  had  already  been  convicted."  They  were  already 
acquainted  with  the  Pujo  committee.  He  reminded 
the  Club  that  the  business  future  of  this  country  does 
not  depend  on  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
**The  Government,"  he  said,  ''cannot  build  a  temper, 
it  cannot  generate  thought  and  purpose.  Things  done 
under  the  whip  of  the  law  are  done  sullenly,  somewhat 
reluctantly,  and  never  successfully.  I  want  to  take 
sternness  out  of  the  country.  I  want  to  see  suspicion 
dissipated. ' ' 

This  Commercial  Club,  however,  seemed  to  be  un- 
able to  follow  him.  But  he  was  determined  to  be  under- 
stood, and  he  continued : 

*  ^  I  want  to  see  the  time  brought  about  when  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
who  have  a  stern  attitude  to\vard  the  business 
men  of  the  country  shall  be  absolutely  done  aw^ay 
with  and  forgotten.  Perfectly  honest  men  are  now 
at  a  disadvantage  in  America  because  business 
methods  in  general  are  not  trusted  by  the  people, 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  41 

taken  as  a  whole.  That  is  unjust  to  you,  it  is 
unjust  to  everybody  with  wliom  business  deals  and 
everybody  whom  business  touches. 

*'In  the  United  States  they  do  not  believe — I 
mean  the  rank  and  file  of  our  people  do  not 
believe — that  men  of  every  kind  are  upon  an 
equality  in  their  access  to  the  resources  of  the 
country,  any  more  than  they  believe  that  every- 
body is  upon  equal  terms  in  his  access  to  the  justice 
of  the  country.  It  is  believed  in  this  country  that 
a  poor  man  has  less  chance  to  get  justice  admin- 
istered to  him  than  a  rich  man.  God  forbid  that 
that  should  be  generally  true. ' ' 

These  remarks  were  appreciated  and  applauded.  But, 
when  the  President-elect  suggested  his  remedy,  that 
**we  must  see  to  it  that  the  business  of  the  United 
States  is  set  absolutely  free  of  every  feature  of  monop- 
oly," the  business  men  gave  him  a  stare  and  did  not 
respond. 

Here  Governor  Wilson  paused,  looked  around  the 
banquet  room,  and  then  added : 

^*I  notice  you  do  not  applaud  that.  I  am  some- 
what disappointed  because  unless  you  feel  that 
way  the  thing  is  not  going  to  happen  except  by 


42  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

duress,  which  is  the  worst  way  to  bring  anything 
about,  because  there  will  be  monopoly  in  this 
country  until  there  are  no  important  business  men 
who  do  not  intend  to  bring  it  about.  I  know  that 
when  they  are  talking  about  that,  they  say  there 
is  not  anybody  in  the  United  States  who  ever 
intended  to  set  up  a  monopoly.  But  I  know  there 
are  some  gentlemen  who  did  deliberately  go 
about  to  set  up  monopoly.  We  know  that  they 
intended  to  do  it  because  they  did  it. 

^*I  don't  care  how  big  a  particular  business  gets 
provided  it  grows  big  in  contact  with  sharp  com- 
petition, and  I  know  that  a  business  based  upon 
genuine  capital  which  has  not  a  drop  of  water  in 
it  can  be  conducted  with  greater  efficiency  and 
economy  than  a  business  that  is  loaded  with 
water. ' ' 

The  morning  after  this  address  the  stock  market  was 
again  unsteady  and  business  was  not  so  good.  But 
what  had  the  President-elect  really  said?  There  are 
dishonest  men  in  business,  people  do  not  believe  that 
they  can  get  justice,  business  relies  too  much  on  gov- 
ernment, monopolies  must  go.  A  few  days  later  he 
spoke  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  again  his  ''attack  on 
business''  was  disconcerting.  Now,  the  very  fact  that 
business  became  excited  was  either  a  proof  that  the 


AN  UNTRIED  LEADER  43 

newly  elected  President  was  right,  or  this  Calvinist 
might  have  some  blue  laws  up  his  sleeve  which  he  ex- 
pected to  enforce  later.  The  press  of  the  country  was 
somewhat  severe  in  its  criticism  of  these  speeches,  and 
for  several  days  the  business  of  the  country  seemed  to 
be  very  much  alarmed.  It  was  even  reported  that  his 
utterances  were  about  to  produce  a  panic.  One  may  re- 
read the  above  addresses  today  and  smile  at  the  uneasy 
state  produced  by  such  utterances.  However,  the 
panicky  feeling  was  so  perceptible  that  Mr.  Wilson's 
secretary  felt  called  upon  to  issue  the  following  state- 
ment: 

* 'Attempts  are  being  made  to  make  an  issue  of  Gov- 
ernor Wilson's  speech  at  Chicago.  This  is  nothing  less 
than  amusing.  Governor  Wilson's  attitude  on  business 
and  its  relations  to  government,  as  expressed  in  his 
several  speeches  since  election,  is,  as  any  well  informed 
person  in  the  country  would  testify,  exactly  the  same 
as  his  attitude  before  his  nomination  and  before  his 
election. 

**  Every  word  that  Governor  Wilson  has  uttered  is 
in  complete  harmony  with  the  principles  to  which  he 
has  strictly  adhered  throughout  his  public  career.  If 
there  is  any  surprise  in  this  attitude,  it  can  be  man- 
ifested only  by  those  who  fail  to  realize  that  the  country 
has  elected  to  the  Presidency  an  honest  and  fearless 
man  who  means  exactly  what  he  says." 

The  panic  existed  only  in  the  ncAvspapers  of  the 


44  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

country.  But  it  was  discovered  that  Big  Business  was 
was  preparing  to  declare  war  on  the  new  administra- 
tion. That  was  natural.  It  was  what  might  have  been 
expected.  However,  as  the  date  for  the  inauguration 
approached,  Governor  Wilson's  speeches  became  less 
specific,  and  more  editorial  lines  were  devoted  to  his 
character  and  integrity.  His  policies  were  clearly  out- 
lined. He  had  settled  convictions  on  the  tariff,  on  cur- 
rency reform,  and  on  anti-trust  legislation.  Beyond 
this,  he  spoke  in  general  terms,  and  he  came  up  to  the 
fourth  of  March  with  a  determination  to  correct  these 
three  evils. 

The  agitation  period  had  passed,  and  the  constructive 
period  had  begun.  His  speech,  accepting  the  nomina- 
tion, gave  his  analysis  of  conditions  as  they  existed 
and  his  remedies  for  righting  the  wrongs  from  which 
the  people  suffered,  and  wdthin  less  than  two  years 
after  the  assembling  of  his  first  Congress,  these  rem- 
edies had  been  written  into  law.  Seldom  in  political 
history  has  the  nation  witnessed  such  a  conjunction  of 
promise  and  performance.  To  study  what  he  promised 
to  do,  what  he  did  do,  and  how  he  did  it,  constitutes 
a  complete  exposition  of  the  processes  of  the  Executive 
and  Legislative  Departments  of  government  in  Amer- 
ica; consequently,  aside  from  the  significance  of  the 
laws  themselves,  this  period  of  President  Wilson's  ad- 
ministration will  always  be  of  engrossing  interest  to 
students  of  history. 


CHAPTER  III 

INAUGURATING  THE  NEW  REGIME 


A  great  President  is  made  in  the  White  House.  No 
previous  training  is  so  complete,  no  knowledge  is  so 
comprehensive,  and  no  experience  has  so  functioned 
under  the  pressure  of  that  peculiar  responsibility  as 
to  enable  even  those  gifted  with  a  sense  of  prophecy  to 
foretell  with  any  degree  of  certainty  the  successes  or 
failures  of  a  new  Executive.  The  nation  had  been 
deeply  stirred  by  the  great  campaign  which  had  ele- 
vated Woodrow  Wilson  to  the  Presidency,  and  after 
the  heat  of  the  contest  and  after  the  people  had  had 
the  opportunity  to  take  a  calm  view  of  the  situation, 
men  everywhere  were  asking  this  one  question :  What 
kind  of  President  would  be  born  in  the  White  House 
on  March  4,  1913? 

The  Democratic  party  had  been  a  protesting  body 
for  twenty  years — protesting  against  the  policies  of 
the  Republican  party,  Avhich  had  been  the  official  pol- 
icies of  the  nation.  It  had  formed  the  protesting  habit, 
which  seemed  to  be  its  chief  function  and  its  main 
excuse  for  existing.  But  its  protests  had,  at  last,  be- 
come the  adopted  policies  of  the  nation ;  and,  in  a  period 
of  apparent  national  prosperity,  this  significant  trans- 

45 


46  ^YOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

formation  had  taken  place.  It  was  quite  evident,  there- 
fore, that  a  new  era  was  at  hand,  but  its  full  meaning 
was  distressingly  obscure,  and  a  feeling  of  pessimism 
pervaded  the  country  where,  heretofore,  special  priv- 
ilege, secure  under  the  protection  of  the  government, 
was  so  buoyant  and  optimistic.  What  did  the  change 
mean?    Was  the  judgment  day  at  hand? 

It  was  the  fourth  of  March,  1913,  that  the  business 
of  America  dreaded.  But  the  day  was  at  hand.  An 
immense  throng  had  gathered  around  the  Capitol  to 
see  the  old  party,  that  had  been  in  continuous  power 
since  the  overthrow  of  slavery  (with  the  exception  of 
two  short  intervals),  turn  the  government  over  to  the 
party  that  had  had  so  little  voice  in  the  government 
of  the  nation  for  a  half  century.  But  w^hat  did  it  all 
mean? 

The  new-found  leader  took  the  oath  to  support  the 
Constitution,  and  turning  to  the  great  out-of-doors  and 
speaking  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  he  declared 
that  he  would  answer  the  question  *Hhat  is  uppermost 
in  our  minds  today." 

*^  There  has  been  a  change  of  government.  It 
began  two  years  ago,  when  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives became  Democratic  by  a  decisive  major- 
ity. It  has  now  been  completed.  The  Senate  about 
to  assemble  will  also  be  Democratic.  The  offices  of 
President  and  Vice-President  have  been  put  into 


THE  NEW  REGIME  47 

the  hands  of  Democrats.  What  does  the  change 
meanf  That  is  the  question  that  is  uppermost  in 
our  minds  today.  That  is  the  question  I  am  going 
to  try  to  answer,  if  I  may,  in  order  to  interpret 
the  occasion. 

^'It  means  much  more  than  the  mere  success  of 
a  party.  The  success  of  a  party  means  little 
except  when  the  nation  is  using  that  party  for  a 
large  and  definite  purpose.  No  one  can  mistake 
the  purpose  for  which  the  nation  now  seeks  to  use 
the  Democratic  party.  It  seeks  to  use  it  to  inter- 
pret a  change  in  its  own  plans  and  point  of  view. 
Some  old  things  with  which  we  had  grown  familiar, 
and  which  had  begun  to  creep  into  the  very  habit 
of  our  thought  and  of  our  lives,  have  altered  their 
aspect  as  w^e  have  latterly  looked  critically  upon 
them  with  fresh  awakened  eyes;  have  dropped 
their  disguises  and  shown  themselves  alien  and 
sinister.  Some  new  things,  as  we  look  frankly 
upon  them,  willing  to  comprehend  their  real 
character,  have  come  to  assume  the  aspect  of 
things  long  believed  in  and  familiar,  stuff  of  our 
own  convictions.  We  have  been  refreshed  by  a 
new  insight  into  our  own  life. 

*^We  see  that  in  many  things  that  life  is  very 
great.     It  is  incomparably  great  in  its  material 


48  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

aspects,  in  its  body  of  wealth,  in  the  diversity  and 
sweep  of  its  energy,  and  in  the  industries  which 
have  been  conceived  and  built  up  by  the  genius  of 
individual  men  and  the  limitless  enterprise  of 
groups  of  men.  It  is  great,  also,  very  great,  in  its 
moral  force.  Nowhere  else  in  the  world  have 
noble  men  and  women  exhibited  in  more  striking 
forms  the  beauty  and  the  energy  of  sympathy  and 
of  helpfulness  and  counsel  in  their  efforts  to 
rectify  wrong,  alleviate  suffering,  and  set  the  weak 
in  the  way  of  strength  and  hope.  We  have  built 
up,  moreover,  a  great  system  of  government,  which 
has  stood  through  a  long  age  as  in  many  respects 
a  model  for  those  who  seek  to  set  liberty  upon 
foundations  that  will  endure  against  fortuitous 
change,  against  storm  and  accident.  Our  life 
contains  every  great  thing,  and  contains  it  in  rich 
abundance. 

''But  the  evil  has  come  with  the  good,  and  much 
fine  gold  has  been  corroded.  With  riches  has  come 
inexcusable  waste.  We  have  squandered  a  great 
part  of  what  we  might  have  used,  and  have  not 
stopped  to  conserve  the  exceeding  bounty  of 
nature,  without  which  our  genius  for  enterprise 
would  have  been  worthless  and  impotent,  scorning 
to   be   careful,   shamefully   prodigal   as   well   as 


THE  NEW  REGIME  49 

admirably  efficient.  We  have  been  proud  of  our 
industrial  achievements,  but  we  have  not  hitherto 
stopped  thoughtfully  enough  to  count  the  human 
cost,  the  cost  of  lives  snuffed  out,  of  energies  over- 
taxed and  broken,  the  fearful  physical  and 
spiritual  cost  to  the  men  and  women  and  children 
upon  whom  the  dead  weight  and  burden  of  it  all 
has  fallen  pitilessly  the  years  through.  The 
groans  and  agony  of  it  all  had  not  yet  reached  our 
ears,  the  solemn,  moving  undertone  of  our  life, 
coming  up  out  of  the  mines  and  factories  and  out 
of  every  home  where  the  struggle  had  its  intimate 
and  familiar  seat.  With  the  great  Government 
went  many  deep  secret  things  which  we  too  long 
delayed  to  look  into  and  scrutinize  with  candid, 
fearless  eyes.  The  great  Government  we  loved  has 
too  often  been  made  use  of  for  private  and  selfish 
purposes,  and  those  who  used  it  had  forgotten 
the  people. 

**  At  last  a  vision  has  been  vouchsafed  us  of  our 
life  as  a  whole.  We  see  the  bad  with  the  good,  the 
debased  and  decadent  with  the  sound  and  vital. 
With  this  vision  we  approach  new  affairs.  Our 
duty  is  to  cleanse,  to  reconsider,  to  restore,  to 
correct  the  evil  without  impairing  the  good,  to 
purify  and  humanize  every  process  of  our  common 


50  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

life  without  weakening  or  sentimentalizing  it. 
There  has  been  something  crude  and  heartless  and 
unfeeling  in  our  haste  to  succeed  and  be  great. 
Our  thought  has  been,  ^Let  every  man  look  out 
for  himself,  let  every  generation  look  out  for 
itself,^  while  we  reared  giant  machinery  which 
made  it  impossible  that  any,  but  those  who  stood 
at  the  levers  of  control  should  have  a  chance  to 
look  out  for  themselves.  We  had  not  forgotten 
our  morals.  We  remembered  well  enough  that  we 
had  set  up  a  policy  which  was  meant  to  serve  the 
humblest  as  well  as  the  most  powerful,  with  an  eye 
single  to  the  standards  of  justice  and  fair  play, 
and  remembered  it  with  pride.  But  we  were  very 
heedless  and  in  a  hurry  to  be  great. 

^^  We  have  come  now  to  the  sober  second  thought. 
The  scales  of  heedlessness  have  fallen  from  our 
eyes.  We  have  made  up  our  minds  to  square  every 
process  of  our  national  life  again  with  the 
standards  we  so  proudly  set  up  at  the  beginning, 
and  have  always  carried  at  our  hearts.  Our  work 
is  a  work  of  restoration. 

**We  have  itemized  with  some  degree  of  par- 
ticularity the  things  that  ought  to  be  altered,  and 
here  are  some  of  the  chief  items :  A  tariff  which 
cuts  us  off  from  our  proper  part  in  the  commerce 


THE  NEW  REGIME  51 

of  the  world,  violates  the  just  principles  of  taxa- 
tion, and  makes  the  Government  a  facile  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  private  interests ;  a  banking 
and  currency  system  based  upon  the  necessity  of 
the  Government  to  sell  its  bonds  fifty  years  ago 
and  perfectly  adapted  to  concentrating  cash  and 
restricting  credits;  an  industrial  system,  which, 
take  it  on  all  sides,  financial  as  well  as  admin- 
istrative, holds  capital  in  leading  strings,  restricts 
the  liberties  and  limits  the  opportunities  of  labor, 
and  exploits  w^ithout  renewing  or  conserving  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country ;  a  body  of  agri- 
cultural activities  never  yet  given  the  efficiency  of 
great  business  undertakings  or  served  as  it  should 
be  through  the  instrumentality  of  sciences  taken 
directly  to  the  farm,  or  afforded  the  facilities  of 
credit  best  suited  to  its  practical  needs;  water 
courses  undeveloped;  waste  places  unreclaimed; 
forests  untended,  fast  disappearing  without  plan 
or  prospect  of  renewal;  unregardecj  waste  heaps 
at  every  mine.  We  have  studied  as  perhaps  no 
other  nation  has  the  most  effective  means  of  pro- 
duction, but  we  have  not  studied  cost  or  economy 
as  we  should  either  as  organizers  of  industry,  as 
statesmen,  or  as  individuals. 

**Nor  have  we  studied  and  perfected  the  means 


52  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

by  which  government  may  be  put  at  the  service  of 
humanity,  in  safeguarding  the  health  of  the  nation, 
the  health  of  its  men  and  its  women  and  its 
children,  as  well  as  their  rights  in  the  struggle  for 
existence.  This  is  no  sentimental  duty.  The  firm 
basis  of  government  is  justice,  not  pity.  These 
are  matters  of  justice.  There  can  be  no  equality 
of  opportunity,  the  first  essential  of  justice  in  the 
body  politic,  if  men  and  women  and  children  be 
not  shielded  in  their  lives,  their  very  vitality,  from 
the  consequences  of  great  industrial  and  social 
processes  which  they  cannot  alter,  control,  or 
singly  cope  with.  Society  must  see  to  it  that  it 
does  not  itself  crush  or  weaken  or  damage  its  own 
constituent  parts.  The  first  duty  of  law  is  to  keep 
sound  the  society  it  serves.  Sanitary  laws,  pure- 
food  laws,  and  laws  determining  conditions  of 
labor  which  individuals  are  powerless  to  determine 
for  themselves  are  intimate  parts  of  the  very  busi- 
ness of  justice  and  legal  efficiency. 

*^  These  are  some  of  the  things  that  we  ought 
to  do,  and  not  leave  the  others  undone,  the  old- 
fashioned,  never-to-be-neglected  fundamental  safe- 
guarding of  property  and  of  individual  right.  This 
is  the  high  enterprise  of  the  new  day:  To  lift 
everything  that  concerns  our  life  as  a  nation  to  the 


THE  NEW  REGIME  53 

light  that  shines  from  the  hearth  fire  of  every 
man's  conscience  and  vision  of  the  right.  It  is 
inconceivable  that  we  should  do  this  as  partisans ; 
it  is  inconceivable  that  we  should  do  it  in  ig-norance 
of  the  facts  as  they  are  or  in  blind  haste.  We 
shall  restore,  not  destroy.  AVe  shall  deal  with  our 
economic  system  as  it  is,  and  as  it  may  be  modified, 
not  as  it  might  be  if  we  had  a  clean  sheet  of  paper 
to  write  upon;  and  step  by  step  we  shall  make  it 
what  it  should  be,  in  the  spirit  of  those  who  ques- 
tion their  own  wisdom  and  seek  counsel  and  knowl- 
edge, not  shallow  self-satisfaction  or  the  excite- 
ment of  excursion  whither  they  cannot  tell. 
Justice,  and  only  justice,  shall  always  be  our 
motto. 

'^And  yet  it  will  be  no  cool  process  of  mere 
science.  The  nation  has  been  deeply  stirred, 
stirred  by  a  solemn  passion,  stirred  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  wrong,  of  ideals  lost,  of  government  too 
often  debauched  and  made  an  instrument  of  evil. 
The  feelings  with  which  we  face  this  new  age  of 
right  and  opportunity  sweep  across  our  heart- 
strings like  some  air  out  of  God's  own  presence, 
where  justice  and  mercy  are  reconciled  and  the 
judge  and  the  brother  are  one.  We  know  our  task 
to  be  no  mere  task  of  politics,  but  a  task  which 


54  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

shall  search  us  through  and  through,  whether  we 
be  able  to  understand  our  thne  and  the  need  of 
our  people,  whether  we  be  indeed  their  spokesmen 
and  interpreters,  whether  we  have  the  pure  heart 
to  comprehend  and  the  rectified  will  to  choose  our 
high  course  of  action. 

^'This  is  not  a  day  of  triumph;  it  is  a  day  of 
dedication.  Here  muster  not  the  forces  of  party, 
but  the  forces  of  humanity.  Men's  hearts  wait 
upon  us;  men's  lives  hang  in  the  balance;  men's 
hopes  call  upon  us  to  say  what  we  will  do.  Who 
shall  live  up  to  the  great  trust  I  Who  dares  fail 
to  try!  I  summon  all  honest  men,  all  patriotic,  all 
forward-looking  men,  to  my  side.  God  helping  me, 
I  will  not  fail  them,  if  they  will  but  counsel  and 
sustain  me ! " 

And  this  was  Ms  answer!  He  bowed  to  the  great 
out-of-doors  and  left  the  rostrum.  The  anxious  sea  of 
humanity  that  had  stood  for  a  short  time  with  up- 
turned faces  and  with  ears  eager  to  catch  his  words,  now 
flowed  toward  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  see  the  newly 
created  President  of  the  United  States  move  in  state 
from  the  Capitol  to  the  White  House,  and  the  next 
morning  the  world  was  commenting  on  his  address. 

The  American  people  seemed  to  appreciate  the  new 
note  of  freedom  that  was  sounded,  and  it  was  the  sense 


THE  NEW  REGIME  55 

of  the  great  body  of  the  nation  that  if  the  President 
and  his  cabinet  could  but  live  and  work  in  the  spirit 
of  that  address,  ''squaring  their  conduct  to  its  prin- 
ciples of  unswerving  justice  and  unselfish  duty,  we 
shall  have  indeed  a  great  administration. ' '  There  was 
little  pessimism  in  the  nation  on  March  5.  Even  a 
large  number  of  Mr.  Wilson's  opponents,  it  was  de- 
clared, ''are  now  hopeful  that  he  will  succeed"  and 
"the  public  conscience  is  ready  to  support  any  sound 
remedies  for  existing  evils." 

The  days  of  protest  and  warning  were  now  over.  The 
policy  of  the  new  administration  was  frankly  laid  bare 
in  the  Inaugural  Address,  and  the  important  legislation 
needed  to  set  the  energies  of  the  nation  free  were 
stated  in  a  few  words;  and  he  could  confidently  hope 
that  the  nation  would  not  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  his  mov- 
ing and  solemn  note  of  appeal. 

The  circumstances  that  placed  him  at  the  head  of 
the  nation  were  unusual.  He  had  received  only  about 
6,000,000  votes,  while  more  than  8,000,000  had  been  cast 
for  the  other  candidates.  Lincoln  was  similarly  elected 
in  1861.  But  the  Civil  War  united  enough  Republicans 
and  Democrats  to  make  him  secure  in  his  power.  "No 
such  civic  convulsion  will  come  to  Wilson 's  aid, ' '  it  was 
argued.  "Only  by  following  lines  of  peaceful  and 
domestic  policy  can  he  hope  to  consolidate  his  political 
strength,"  and  make  himself  the  real  leader  of  the 
nation.    He  was  already  recognized  ^  a  great  writer 


56  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

and  public  speaker.  But  essays  and  orations  stir  other 
leaders  to  marshal  their  forces,  and  there  is  no  limit 
**to  the  energizing  of  reform  and  the  quickening  of  the 
human  spirit.'*  But  would  Woodrow  Wilson  combine 
with  these  two  great  qualities  this  most  essential  one — 
a  great  leader  of  the  whole  people?  That  was  the 
question. 

Mr.  Wilson 's  first  official  act  was  the  appointment  of 
his  cabinet,  his  official  advisers.  Although  this  act  was 
a  disappointment,  somewhat,  to  many  of  his  ardent 
supporters,  it  was  not  alleged  that  the  appointments  had 
been  dictated  to  him  or  that  there  was  the  faintest  trace 
of  ''boss  rule"  in  connection  with  them.  He  was  un- 
questionably making  his  own  appointments.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  conservative  minds  of  the  country,  more- 
over, was  expressed  by  The  Nation:  ''Bearing  in  mind 
the  long  exclusion  of  the  Democratic  party  from  power, 
and  also  the  fact  that  Mr.  Wilson  decided  not  to  weaken 
the  narrow  Democratic  majority  in  the  Senate  by  in- 
viting any  of  the  abler  men  there  to  a  seat  in  his  Cab- 
inet, his  final  choice  will,  we  think,  be  generally  ad- 
mitted to  be  as  wise  as  he  could  have  made."  If  this 
was  a  positive  compliment  to  the  President,  it  was  a 
doubtful  one  to  the  party  in  power. 

The  first  problem  before  the  President  was  to  unify 
the  Executive  and  the  Legislative  powers  in  harmony. 
He  was  the  head  of  the  nation  but  an  untried  national 
leader.     However,   it  was  his   prerogative   to   suggest 


THE  NEW  REGIME  57 

and  apprise,  and  Congress  to  debate  and  enact.  His 
preparation  for  such  a  responsible  position  was  rather 
uncertain;  and  it  was  this  uncertainty  that  was  trou- 
bling many  people,  and  many  of  them  belonged  to  the 
legislative  body  of  the  nation. 

The  country  had  grown  accustomed  to  think  of  the 
Senate  as  an  assemblage  of  ''Conscript  Fathers"  pos- 
sessing great  dignity.  ''Senatorial  courtesy"  is  a  dis- 
tinct reminder  even  today  of  the  traditional  sacredness 
of  the  rights  of  Senators  to  unlimited  speech.  More- 
over, it  was  then  an  historic  evidence,  entertained  not 
only  by  the  country  at  large  but  by  the  Senators  them- 
selves, that  the  Senate  was  "the  greatest  deliberative 
body  in  the  world."  However,  that  body  was  under- 
going a  great  change.  The  upheaval  that  finally 
brought  the  Democratic  party  into  power  brought  a 
change  in  the  manner  of  electing  United  States  Sen- 
ators. The  Senate  of  the  Sixty-third  Congress  was  the 
last  to  be  elected  by  the  State  Legislatures. 

On  the  last  of  May,  1913,  the  Secretary  of  State 
signed  the  formal  announcement  of  the  Seventeenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  providing  for  the  di- 
rect election  of  Senators.  It  was  the  last  of  the  old 
regime,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Wilson  found  on  the  morn- 
ing after  his  inauguration,  but  it  was  an  honored  and 
honorable  body.  There  were  Senators  of  such  large 
and  successful  experience  that  Woodrow  Wilson  was 
still  a  boy  when  they  began  to  render  such  distinguished 


58  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

service  to  the  country.  Fifteen  had  been  in  the  Senate 
for  more  than  twelve  years,  and  twenty-six  had  com- 
pleted more  than  six  years.  However,  the  new  Presi- 
dent had  never  been  a  legislator.  His  mature  life,  save 
two  years  as  Governor,  had  been  spent  in  the  school- 
room. Therefore,  it  was  not  a  secret  that  the  Senate 
and  even  the  country  at  large  had  misgivings  as  to 
his  power  to  guide  such  an  honored  and  experienced 
body  of  statesmen. 

Moreover,  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  large  and 
somewhat  unwieldy  body,  composed  of  440  members, 
represented  all  phases  of  our  amalgamated  life  and 
interests.  It,  too,  had  among  its  leaders  a  group  of 
men  who  had  been  in  training  almost  a  generation. 
Some  had  achieved  national  distinction  when  Woodrow 
AVilson  was  just  beginning  to  attract  attention  as  a 
teacher  and  interpreter  of  political  economy.  Two  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Representatives,  because  of  their 
distinguished  service,  were  popular  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  when  Mr.  Wilson  was  nominated.  Master 
tacticians,  skillful  strategists,  and  political  *Svar 
horses"  were  in  charge  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1913.  Would  the  new  President 
be  able  to  organize  them  and  direct  them  in  this  new 
course  that  w^as  promised  in  the  campaign  and  pro- 
posed on  the  day  of  his  inauguration?  Many  people 
doubted  it.  Even  the  House  of  Representatives  itself 
had  some  misgivings. 


THE  NEW  REGIME  59 

Monopoly  must  be  destroyed!  This  was  the  slogan 
during  the  campaign;  it  was  the  subject  of  Mr.  Wil- 
son 's  utterances  between  his  election  and  his  inaugura- 
tion; and  it  was  the  heart  of  his  inaugural  address. 
But  this  dangerous  dragon  was  too  powerful  and  too 
deadly  to  be  slain  by  the  arm  of  a  single  knight,  even 
though  he  were  clothed  with  the  strength  of  Sir  Gal- 
ahad. Mr.  Wilson  had  intimated  that  he  would  assem- 
ble Congress  for  the  purpose  of  beginning  his  reforms. 
And  men  wondered. 

The  Democratic  party  had  apparently  lost  the  habit 
of  cooperating  as  a  unit.  Moreover,  it  was  argued  that 
the  Democratic  party,  although  it  had  been  protesting 
for  a  generation  against  abuses  in  the  government, 
was,  like  the  Republican  party,  so  boss-ridden  that  no 
man  could  lead  it  as  a  unit  against  the  wrongs  that  cried 
aloud  for  redress.  Furthermore,  it  was  believed  that 
when  a  party  long  out  of  power  comes  into  control  of 
the  government,  it  is  possessed  of  an  enthusiasm  and 
a  loyalty  that  gives  it  a  certain  degree  of  unity,  and 
makes  it  for  the  moment  amenable  to  wise  leadership. 
But  with  continued  power,  more  and  more  factionalism 
would  appear  and  refractory  spirits  would  obstruct  the 
administration's  policies.  Then  the  old-time  machine 
politicians  would  step  mto  the  breach  and  governmental 
processes  would  continue  very  much  as  in  the  past. 
And  a  degree  of  pessimism  appeared  in  the  hearts  of 
honest  men  who  were  hopeful  the  day  after  the  elec- 


60  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

tion  that  the  new  administration  would  **  effect  a  great 
readjustment  and  get  the  forces  of  the  whole  people 
once  more  into  play. '  * 

The  destiny  of  this  nation  was  completely  in  the 
hands  of  the  Democratic  party.  This  new  guardian, 
having  been  out  of  power  for  so  many  years,  and  now 
being  flushed  with  victory,  was  eager  to  take  charge 
and  begin  the  journey.  On  this  point  the  Executive 
and  the  Legislative  departments  were  in  complete  har- 
mony. The  President's  vision  for  **new  freedom"  for 
all  Americans  was  clearly  the  vision  of  the  party  in 
control  of  Congress.  Therefore,  their  purposes  were 
identical.  Such  were  the  prospects  on  April  8,  when 
the  New  Congress,  in  response  to  the  President's  call, 
met  in  special  session. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A   NEW   TARIFF:     THE   FIRST   STAGE   IN    THE 
JOURNEY  TO  NEW  FREEDOM 

President  Wilson  had  been  a  close  student  of  politics 
and  of  history  in-the-making,  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  He  was  plainly  aware  of  the  fact  that 
his  greatest  influence  would,  in  all  probability,  be  in 
the  beginning  of  his  administration.  Therefore,  it  was 
no  surprise  to  the  nation  when  he  called  Congress  to 
meet  in  special  session  so  soon  after  his  inauguration. 
Simultaneously,  he  announced  that  he  would  not  be 
pestered  with  office  seekers ;  that  no  office  seeker  need 
call  on  him  except  upon  invitation,  because  he  would 
devote  his  best  thought  and  energies  to  the  larger 
questions  and  those  most  vital  to  the  country ;  and  the 
nation  applauded  this  act  as  a  promise  of  greater  effi- 
ciency. 

The  new  life  in  the  government  was  so  vigorous  that 
the  thoughtful  men  of  the  country  began  to  advise  Big 
Business  to  adjust  itself  as  soon  as  possible  to  a  new 
tariff  law,  since  it  was  evident  that  the  Administration 
meant  to  act  promptly,  and  it  seemed  to  be  morally 
certain  that  a  new  tariff  law  would  be  enacted. 

61 


62  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Immediately  after  the  call  was  issued  for  an  extraor- 
dinary session  of  Congress  committees  from  the  House 
and  Senate  became  very  active  studying  rates  and 
schedules  and  revenue.  '*It  will  be  little  short  of 
criminal  for  Big  Business  to  wait  until  the  new  tariff 
law  is  a  fact  and  then  cry  *  panic,'  "  was  the  warning 
to  the  business  of  the  country. 

However,  the  vigor  of  the  new  life  was  so  exhilarating 
that  the  public  mind  was  drawn  temporarily  away  from 
the  great  issue,  and  speculation  was  rife  as  to  who 
would  be  the  real  leader  of  this  incoherent  Democratic 
party.  Would  any  one  man  be  able  to  unify  it,  make 
it  coherent,  and  direct  it  as  a  disciplined  body  of 
trained  workers  capable  of  holding  the  safety  of  all 
the  people  in  its  grasp?  Would  a  great  leader  be  de- 
veloped and  would  the  new  Democratic  administration 
be  famous  because  of  such  a  leader  in  Congress?  Would 
the  new  President  become  such  a  leader?  Or  would 
the  party  disintegrate  and  wait  for  the  old  party  to 
step  back  into  power?  Would  a  new  party,  like  that 
that  brought  Jackson  and  Lincoln  into  the  White  House 
be  formed?  We  were  clearly  at  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era.  Who  would  become  the  statesman  of  the 
hour? 

Congress  convened  April  8,  1913.  It  had  already 
been  heralded  abroad  that  President  Wilson,  in  his 
first  official  relations  to  the  newly  assembled  Congress, 
would  overturn  a  century-old  precedent  by  appearing 


A  NEW  TARIFF  63 

in  person  at  the  joint  session  of  both  Ilo-uses  of  Congress 
to  deliver  his  first  message.  The  practice,  born  of  the 
British  ^'Address  from  the  Throne,"  was  established 
in  this  country  by  Washington,  continued  by  Adams, 
but  abandoned  by  Jefferson,  and  for  112  years  the 
Presidents  had  sent  all  their  messages  to  Congress, 
most  of  Avhich  were  unusually  long  and  tiresome,  to  be 
read  by  clerks,  while  the  members  for  the  most  part 
attended  to  other  duties. 

Mr.  Wilson,  however,  was  serious  in  proposing  to 
appear  in  person  at  the  first  session.  He  was  advised 
that  such  an  act  would  be  revolutionary  and  would  be 
resented  bv  both  Houses.  The  act  w^ould  savor  too 
much  of  the  methods  of  a  dictator;  and  it  was  the  in- 
tention of  the  Fathers  that  the  Executive  and  the  Leg- 
islative departments  should  forever  remain  independent 
of  each  other. 

In  anticipation  of  the  event  the  galleries  were 
crowded  long  before  the  appointed  hour,  and  Capitol 
Hill  was  thronged  with  thousands  unable  to  gain  en- 
trance to  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  hour  ar- 
rived, but  there  was  some  delay.  It  was  a  tense 
moment.  Then  the  Senators  filed  in,  thirty  minutes 
late,  in  formal  dress,  dignified,  some  of  them  sullen. 
One  Senator  remarked  that  he  hoped  this  would  be  the 
last  time  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  would  be 
humiliated  by  being  called  to  the  House  Chamber  to 
receive  a  message  from  the  ''throne."    The  two  Houses 


64  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

were  now  assembled.  Then  the  President  stepped  in 
from  a  side  door  and  took  his  place  at  the  stand  of  the 
reading  clerk. 

''Senators  and  Representatives!"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Speaker  Clark,  the  presiding  officer  of  the  joint  session, 
'*I  have  the  distinguished  honor  of  presenting  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States." 

And  after  112  years  the  voice  of  the  Chief  Executive 
of  the  United  States  was  heard  in  the  assembly  hall 
of  the  greatest  legislative  body  in  the  world. 

''Mr.  Speaker,  Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the 
Congress  : 

* '  I  am  very  glad  indeed  to  have  this  opportunity 
to  address  the  two  Houses  directly,  and  to  verify 
for  myself  the  impression  that  the  President  of 
the  United  States  is  a  person,  not  a  mere  depart- 
ment of  the  government  hailing  Congress  from 
some  isolated  island  of  jealous  power,  sending 
messages,  not  speaking  naturally  and  with  his  own 
voice,  that  he  is  a  human  being  trying  to  cooperate 
w^ith  other  human  beings  in  a  common  service. 
After  this  pleasant  experience  I  shall  feel  quite 
normal  in  all  our  dealings  w^ith  one  another. '^ 

He  had  captured  his  audience,  and  no  address  within 
a  century  had  received  closer  attention.     Before  the 


A  NEW  TARIFF  65 

astonishment  of  the  moment  had  fully  disappeared,  he 
had  given  Congress  its  first  task  to  perform  and  had 
intimated  that  as  soon  as  it  was  accomplished  he  would 
appear  again.    He  said : 

^^I  have  called  the  Congress  together  in  ex- 
traordinary session  because  a  duty  was  laid  upon 
the  party  noAV  in  power  at  the  recent  elections 
which  it  ought  to  perform  promptly,  in  order  that 
the  burden  carried  by  the  people  under  existing 
law^  may  be  lightened  as  soon  as  possible  and  in 
order,  also,  that  the  business  interests  of  the 
country  may  not  be  kept  too  long  in  suspense  as  to 
what  the  fiscal  changes  are  to  be  to  which  they 
will  be  required  to  adjust  themselves. 

"It  is  clear  to  the  whole  country  that  the  tariff 
duties  must  be  altered.  They  must  be  changed  to 
meet  the  radical  alteration  in  the  conditions  of 
our  economic  life  which  the  country  has  witnessed 
within  the  last  generation.  While  the  whole  face 
and  method  of  our  industrial  and  commercial  life 
were  being  changed  beyond  recognition,  the  tariff 
schedules  have  remained  what  they  were  before 
the  change  began,  or  have  moved  in  the  direction 
they  were  given  when  no  large  circumstance  of 
our  industrial  development  was  what  it  is  today. 
Our  task  is  to  square  them  with  the  actual  facts. 


66  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

The  sooner  that  is  done  the  sooner  we  shall  escape 
from  suffering  from  the  facts  and  the  sooner  our 
men  of  business  will  be  free  to  thrive  by  the  law 
of  nature  (the  nature  of  free  business)  instead  of 
by  the  law  of  legislation  and  artificial  arrange- 
ment. 

*^We  have  seen  tariff  legislation  wander  very 
far  afield  in  our  day — very  far  indeed  from  the 
field  in  which  our  prosperity  might  have  had  a 
normal  growth  and  stimulation.  No  one  who  looks 
the  facts  squarely  in  the  face  or  knows  anything 
that  lies  beneath  the  surface  of  action  can  fail  to 
perceive  the  principles  upon  which  recent  tariff 
legislation  has  been  based.  We  long  ago  passed 
beyond  the  modest  notion  of  ^protecting'  the 
industries  of  the  country  and  moved  boldly  for- 
ward to  the  idea  that  they  were  entitled  to  the 
direct  patronage  of  the  Government.  For  a  long- 
time— a  time  so  long  that  the  men  now  active  in 
public  policy  hardly  remember  the  conditions  that 
preceded  it — we  have  sought  in  our  tariff  schedules 
to  give  each  group  of  manufacturers  or  producers 
what  they  themselves  thought  that  they  needed  in 
order  to  maintain  a  practically  exclusive  market 
as  against  the  rest  of  the  world. 

^*  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  we  have  built  up 


A  NEW  TARIFF  67 

a  set  of  privileges  and  exemptions  from  competi- 
tion behind  which  it  was  easy  by  any,  even  the 
crudest,  forms  of  combination  to  organize  monop- 
oly; until  at  last  nothing  is  nomial,  nothing  is 
obliged  to  stand  the  tests  of  efficiency  and 
economy,  in  our  world  of  Big  Business,  but  every- 
thing thrives  by  concerted  arrangement.  Only 
new  principles  of  action  will  save  us  from  a  final 
hard  crystallization  of  monopoly  and  a  complete 
loss  of  the  influences  that  quicken  enterprise  and 
keep  independent  energy  alive. 

^'It  is  plain  what  those  principles  must  be.  We 
must  abolish  everything  that  bears  even  the 
semblance  of  privilege  or  of  any  kind  of  artificial 
advantage,  and  put  our  business  men  and  pro- 
ducers under  the  stimulation  of  a  constant  neces- 
sity to  be  efficient,  economical,  and  enterprising, 
masters  of  competitive  supremacy,  better  workers 
and  merchants  than  any  in  the  world.  Aside  from 
the  duties  laid  upon  articles  which  we  do  not,  and 
probably  can  not,  produce,  therefore,  and  the 
duties  laid  upon  luxuries  and  merely  for  the  sake 
of  the  revenues  they  yield,  the  object  of  the  tariff 
duties  henceforth  laid  must  be  effective  competi- 
tion, the  whetting  of  American  wits  by  contest 
with  the  wits  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 


68  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

**It  would  be  unwise  to  move  toward  this  end 
headlong,  with  reckless  haste,  or  with  strokes  that 
cut  at  the  very  roots  of  what  has  grown  up 
amongst  us  by  long  process  and  at  our  own  invita- 
tion. It  does  not  alter  a  thing  to  upset  it  and 
break  it  and  deprive  it  of  a  chance  to  change.  It 
destroys  it.  We  must  make  changes  in  our  fiscal 
laws,  in  our  fiscal  system,  whose  object  is  develop- 
ment, a  more  free  and  wholesome  development, 
not  revolution  or  upset  or  confusion.  We  must 
build  up  trade,  especially  foreign  trade.  We  need 
the  outlet  and  the  enlarged  field  of  energy  more 
than  we  ever  did  before.  We  must  build  up  in- 
dustry as  well,  and  must  adopt  freedom  in  the 
place  of  artificial  stimulation  only  so  far  as  it  will 
build,  not  pull  down. 

**In  dealing  with  the  tariff  the  method  by  which 
this  may  be  done  will  be  a  matter  of  judgment, 
exercised  item  by  item.  To  some  not  accustomed 
to  the  excitements  and  responsibilities  of  greater 
freedom  our  methods  may  in  some  respects  and  at 
some  points  seem  heroic,  but  remedies  may  be 
heroic  and  yet  be  remedies.  It  is  our  business  to 
make  sure  that  they  are  genuine  remedies.  Our 
object  is  clear.    If  our  motive  is  above  just  chal- 


A  NEW  TARIFF  69 

lenge  and  only  an  occasional  error  of  judgment  is 
chargeable  against  us,  we  shall  be  fortunate. 

^^We  are  called  upon  to  render  the  country  a 
great   service   in  more  matters  than  one.     Our 
responsibilities  should  be  met  and  our  methods 
should  be  thorough,  as  thorough  as  moderate  and 
well  considered,  based  upon  the  facts  as  they  are, 
and  not  worked  out  as  if  we  were  beginners.    We 
are  to  deal  with  the  facts  of  our  own  day,  with  the 
facts  of  no  other,  and  to  make  laws  which  square 
vdth  those  facts.    It  is  best,  indeed,  it  is  necessary, 
to  begin  with  the  tariff.    I  will  urge  nothing  upon 
you  now  at  the  opening  of  your  session  which  can 
obscure  that  first  object  or  divert  our  energies 
from  that  clearly  defined  duty. 

^' At  a  later  time  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  calling 
vour  attention  to  reforms  which  should  press  close 
upon  the  heels  of  the  tariff  changes,  if  not  accom- 
pany them,  of  which  the  chief  is  the  reform  of  our 
banking  and  currency  laws ;  but  just  now  I  refrain. 
For  the  present,  I  put  these  matters  on  one  side 
and  think  only  of  this  one  thing— of  the  changes 
in  our  fiscal  system  which  may  best  serve  to  open 
once  more  the  free  channels  of  prosperity  to  a 
great  people  whom  we  would  serve  to  the  utmost 
and  throughout  both  rank  and  file.'' 


70  VVOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

When  he  had  finished,  he  thrust  the  copy  of  his 
message  into  the  inside  pocket  of  his  coat  and,  bowing 
to  the  audience,  he  said:  **I  sincerely  thank  you  for 
your  courtesy. 


J  5 


At  the  end  of  the  sentence  the  galleries  gave  a  tre- 
mendous applause,  and  Senators  and  Members  joined 
in  with  enthusiasm.  And,  while  the  audience  was  re- 
covering from  the  astonishment  caused  by  his  manner 
and  the  brevity  of  his  message,  he  quietly  withdrew 
from  the  Chamber,  having  demonstrated  in  an  address 
of  less  than  ten  minutes  his  masterful  skill  and  in- 
vincible magnetism,  by  first  convincing  and  then  cap- 
turing his  critics. 

Whether  the  Democratic  party  and  the  nation  had 
drawn  a  real  leader,  the  astonished  body  did  not  yet 
know.  He  did  not  have  the  manner  of  a  dictator,  nor 
did  he  appear  to  be  encroaching  upon  the  ancient  rights 
of  the  Legislative  body.  But,  one  thing  was  certain. 
The  nation  had  a  unique,  if  not  an  extraordinary  cit- 
izen to  deal  with,  since  the  conception  of  the  act  re- 
quired courage  and  to  execute  it  called  for  great  bold- 
ness. Moreover,  there  was  a  unanimous  assent  to  the 
brevity  of  his  message  and  the  comments  were  very 
much  in  his  favor,  if  the  breaking  of  the  ancient  custom 
means  that  in  the  future  these  messages  are  to  be 
**  brief,  direct,  bold  and  fundamental,  rather  than 
merely  legal  arguments  or  statistical  compends. ' '    But 


A  NEW  TARIFF  71 

the  President's  innovation  meant  more  than  that— he 
was  attempting  to  establish  human  and  personal  rela- 
tions with  Congress,  and  a  closer  relationship  between 
the  Executive  and  Legislative  powers  was  desirable  for 

obvious  reasons. 

Congress  now  had  one  task— to  revise  the  tariff  *'in 
order  that  the  burden  carried  by  the  people  under  ex- 
isting laws  may  be  lightened  as  soon  as  possible  and 
in  order,  also,  that  the  business  interests  of  the  country 
may  not  be  kept  too  long  in  suspense  as  to  what  the 
fiscal  changes  are  to  be  to  which  they  will  be  required 
to  adapt  themselves. ' ' 

Much  of  the  preliminary  work  of  revising  the  tariff 
schedule  had  already  been  done,  and  during  the  few 
weeks  between  the  inauguration  of  the  President  and 
the  assembling  of  Congress,  the  new  tariff  bill  Avas 
drafted.    Therefore,  on  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  April, 
when   Senators   and  Representatives   were   listening  to 
the  President's  address,  they  had  before  them  published 
copies  of  the  new  tariff  bill  w^hich  was  ready  to  be  in- 
troduced.    The  people  of  the  country  read  the  pro- 
posed bill  the  day  before  they  read  the  President's 
address.     Therefore,  there  was  no  necessity  for  the 
President  to  go  into  details.     He  was  discussing  fun- 
damental principles.     In  this  manner  the  nation  was 
led  from  detail  to  general  truths,  and,  to  say  the  least, 
the  President  w^as  pedagogical.    And  again  the  business 
men  of  the  country  were  urged  by  the  patriotic  press  to 


72  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

prepare  themselves  for  the  change  and  not  to  be  caught 
like  the  foolish  virgins  unprepared  for  the  event. 

There  was  something  spectacular  about  the  progress 
of  the  tariff  bill  through  Congress.  A  steady  campaign 
was  waged  throughout  the  nation  for  funds  to  main- 
tain a  lobby  and  to  create  sentiment  that  might  deter 
the  work  of  the  Representatives  and  Senators.  The 
sugar  interests  made  a  ''burning  appeal"  to  the  na- 
tion. The  woolen  interests,  that  had  enjoyed  protec- 
tion for  so  long,  were  panic-stricken  and  saw  national 
disaster  ahead  if  wool  should  be  put  on  the  free  list. 
Cotton  manufacturers  felt  the  cold  wind  of  ingratitude 
for  the  business  they  had  built  up,  became  disgusted 
with  politics,  and  returned  home  when  the  tariff  knife 
cut  away  a  part  of  their  protection.  The  "voice  of 
reason"  was  heard  in  the  land  ''protesting  against  un- 
due haste."  The  alarmist  saw  the  Democratic  party 
rushing  to  its  doom  and  carrying  in  its  wake  disaster 
to  the  whole  country.  In  the  meantime  a  conference 
of  the  two  wings  of  the  Republican  party  was  held  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  together,  although  it  was  on  the 
tariff  that  the  party  split. 

It  soon  became  quite  evident  that  Big  Business, 
instead  of  preparing  for  the  inevitable  change,  was 
making  ready  to  fight  it.  And  that  "whispering  sys- 
tem," the  lobby,  that  the  President  had  anathematized 
during  the  campaign,  was  quietly  and  very  deter- 
minedly at  work  to  circumvent  every  important  reduc- 


A  NEW  TARIFF  73 

tion  of  the  tariff.  Moreover,  in  New  Jersey,  his  own 
state,  the  legislature,  in  its  efforts  to  control  the  trusts, 
was  handicapped  at  every  step. 

Mr.  AVilson  had  declared  before  his  inauguration 
that  he  meant  to  see  business  set  free  and  the  govern- 
ment dissolved  from  its  co-partnership  Avith  monopoly. 
Moreover,  he  declared  that  he  would  fight  for  this 
*'new  freedom,"  and  he  added  that  he  really  liked  a 
fight  when  it  became  necessary  to  fight. 

^^ There  is  only  one  canon  of  Americanism," 
lie  said  soon  after  Congress  convened,  ^'and  the 
real,  constant  difficulty  of  American  politics  is  to 
bring  it  back  so  that  it  will  square  with  the 
standards  set  up  at  the  first  when  the  Revolution 
was  fought  out  and  an  independent  nation  was 
established  in  America.  We  established  an  inde- 
pendent nation  in  order  that  men  might  enjoy  a 
new  kind  of  happiness  and  a  new  kind  of  dignity ; 
that  kind  which  a  man  has  when  he  respects  every 
other  man's  and  woman's  individuality  as  he  re- 
spects his  own;  when  he  is  not  willing  to  draw 
distinctions  between  classes,  when  he  is  not  willing 
to  shut  the  door  of  privilege  in  the  face  of  any 
one." 

But  wherever  he  turned,  that  *' invisible  government" 
was  deliberately  at  work,  and  its  chief  executive,  the 


74  WOODROW  WlLtSON  AS  PKESIDENT 

politician  boss,  that  self-appointed  trustee,  was  busy 
in  the  national  capital  as  well  as  in  the  state  capitals 
to  bar  the  **door  of  privilege"  and  destroy  the  first 
canon  of  Americanism.  The  President's  attack  on  the 
political  boss  was  well  planned.  The  opening  assault 
was  made  in  his  own  state,  w^here  he  declared  in  very 
strong  terms  that  that  '^w^hispering  system"  must  va- 
cate and  give  democracy  a  chance. 

*^The  people  of  this  country  and  of  this  State 
are  going  to  have  what  they  know  they  ought  to 
have  by  one  process  or  another,''  he  said.  **I 
pray  that  it  may  not  be  a  wrong  process.  I  do 
not  myself  believe  that  dangerous  things  will 
happen.  But  I  want  to  warn  these  men  (the 
bosses)  not  too  long  to  show  the  people  of  this 
country  that  justice  cannot  be  got  by  the  ordinary 
processes  of  law.  I  warn  them  to  stand  out  of  the 
sovereign  way. 

**I  have  traveled  from  one  end  of  this  country 
to  the  other.  I  have  looked  into  the  faces  of  many 
audiences.  I  have  never  seen  any  symptoms  that 
men  were  going  to  kick  over  the  traces  of  the  laws 
they  have  made,  but  I  have  seen  a  great  majesty 
seated  upon  their  countenances,  and  infinite 
patience.     Thus  they  are  sitting  now.'' 

Then  he  issued  a  warning  for  all  men  to  heed : 


A  NEW  TARIFF  75 

**Tliis  is  the  test;  this  is  the  trial;  this  is  the 
ultimate  seat  of  judgment,  and  if  these  men  will 
not  serve  the  people,  they  will  be  swept  away  like 
chaff  before  the  wind.  Other  men  more  honest, 
more  active,  more  wholesome,  with  the  freshness 
of  a  new  age  upon  them,  with  eyes  that  see  the 
country  as  it  is — men  who  are  cool  and  thoughtful 
and  determined — will  go  to  the  front  and  lead  the 
people  to  the  day  of  victory. 

*^Then  America  wdll  be  crowned  with  a  new 
wreath  of  self-revelation  and  of  self-discovery, 
and  these  creatures  will  have  disappeared  like  the 
dust  in  the  wheels  of  the  chariot  of  God.  It  is  this 
hope,  it  is  this  confidence  that  keeps  the  President 
of  the  United  States  alive.  It  is  this  confidence 
that  makes  it  good  to  come  back  to  New  Jersey 
and  fight  for  the  old  cause." 

In  this  connection  he  declared  also  that  he  was  the 
President  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  *^I  am 
not  the  servant  of  the  Democratic  party,'*  he  said. 
**I  am  the  servant  of  the  people,  acting  through  the 
Democratic  party,  which  has  now  undertaken  some 
of  the  most  solemn  obligations  that  a  party  ever  under- 
took, for  it  has  stepped  forward  at  a  moment  of  uni- 
versal disappointment  and  said,  'We  pledge  you  our 


76  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

honor  as  men  and  as  patriots  that  you  shall  not  be  dis- 
appointed again.'  " 

He  knew  that  the  same  "whispering  system"  was  at 
work  in  the  national  capital.  There  were  men  without 
any  visible  occupation  who  lived  well  in  Washington 
hotels  and  professed  to  have  political  influence  at  their 
disposal.  Moreover,  there  were  agents  who  supplied 
the  press  with  advertisements  and  newspaper  articles. 
Groups  of  people  were  organized  in  many  states  whose 
business  it  was  to  flood  the  Representatives  and  Sen- 
ators w4th  letters  from  ''down  home,"  with  the  purpose 
of  frightening  timid  members  of  Congress  and  thus 
defeating  the  Administration's  tariff  plans.  The  Pres- 
ident's New  Jersey  speeches  created  a  little  excitement. 
But  when  he  returned  to  Washington,  he  had  only  to 
watch  the  same  agencies  at  work. 

The  month  of  May  was  nearly  gone.  Congress  had 
been  in  session  about  six  weeks,  and  the  tariff  bills, 
which  were  ready  to  be  considered  by  the  House  at 
the  opening  session,  had  made  considerable  progress. 
However,  obstruction  after  obstruction  Avas  placed  in 
the  way  of  the  Members.  The  President  had  already 
declared  that  the  people  of  this  country  are  going  to 
have,  by  one  process  or  another,  what  they  know  they 
ought  to  have.  Therefore,  he  warned  the  bosses  "to 
stand  out  of  the  sovereign  way."  And  instead  of 
heeding  this  warning,  they  seemed  to  be  so  strongly 
intrenched  that  they  dared  to  defy  the  Administration. 


A  NEW  TARIFF  77 

A  reformed  tariff  in  accordance  with  Democratic 
principles  was  the  first  step  in  his  ^'new  freedom." 
It  was  the  beginning  of  his  Americanism,  and  the  evi- 
dence that  this  ''whispering  system,"  these  self- 
appointed  trustees,  were  undertaking  to  say  what  kind 
of  a  tariff  bill  the  nation  should  have,  threw  him  into 
a  rage.  Therefore,  on  May  26,  he  spoke  some  plain 
words  about  the  pressure  of  selfish  interests  upon  Con- 
gress to  defeat  the  moderate  reduction  of  tariff  pro- 
posed by  the  Underwood  bill : 

*^I  think  that  the  public  ought  to  know/'  he  said, 
*'the  extraordinary  exertions  being  made  by  the 
lobby  in  Washington  to  gain  recognition  for  cer- 
tain alterations  of  the  tariff  bill.  Washington 
has  seldom  seen  so  numerous,  so  industrious,  or  so 
insidious  a  lobby.  The  newspapers  are  being  filled 
with  paid  advertisements  circulated  to  mislead  not 
only  the  judgment  of  public  men,  but  also  the 
public  opinion  of  the  country  itself.  There  is 
every  evidence  that  money  without  limit  is  being 
spent  to  maintain  this  lobby,  and  to  create  an  ap- 
pearance of  a  pressure  of  public  opinion  antagon- 
istic to  some  of  the  chief  items  of  the  tariff  bill. 

/*It  is  of  serious  interest  to  the  country  that  the 
people  at  large  should  have  no  lobby  and  be  voice- 
less in  these  matters,  while  great  bodies  of  astute 


78  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

men  seek  to  create  an  artificial  opinion  and  to 
overcome  the  interests  of  the  public  for  their 
private  profit.  It  is  thoroughly  worth  the  while 
of  the  people  of  this  country  to  take  knowledge  of 
this  matter.  Only  public  opinion  can  check  and 
destroy  it. 

* '  The  government  in  all  its  branches  ought  to  be 
relieved  from  this  intolerable  burden  and  this 
constant  interruption  to  the  calm  progress  of 
debate.  I  know  that  in  this  I  am  speaking  for  the 
members  of  the  two  Houses,  who  would  rejoice  as 
much  as  I  would,  to  be  released  from  this  unbear- 
able situation." 

It  was  evidently  no  coincidence  that  this  attack  on 
the  lobbyists  came  when  the  tariff  bill,  which  had  been 
under  consideration  for  nearly  three  months,  was  on 
the  eve  of  being  reported  to  the  Finance  Committee  as 
a  whole  in  order  that  the  Caucus  of  Democratic 
Senators  might  pass  on  it.  If  the  lobbyists  were  plan- 
ning at  that  time  a  great  attack  on  the  bill,  the  Presi- 
dent so  timed  his  remarks  as  to  create  consternation 
among  them,  and  then  he  was  accused  of  using  all  the 
privilege  and  authority  of  his  party  leadership  in  order 
to  rush  ''an  important  piece  of  legislation  through 
Congress."  The  Senate  at  once  asked  for  an  investiga- 
tion.   Mr.  Wilson  said  he  could  furnish  names  of  leading 


A  NEW  TAEIFF  79 

lobbyists.  ''A  lobby  in  Washington;  the  idea!"  and 
they  ridiculed  the  President  and  even  called  him  a 
lobbyist.  But  he  had  seen  the  public  with  a  "great 
majesty  seated  upon  their  countenances  and  an  infinite 
patience." 

He  had  already  declared  that  he  would  admit  of 
no  compromise  on  any  of  the  vital  points  of  the  bill  as 
it  passed  the  House.  His  positive  manner  as  well  as 
his  courage  made  the  party  leaders  more  than  ever 
determined  to  carry  out  their  party  pledge  of  moderate 
and  cautious  tariff  reduction,  and  even  vacillating 
Senators  renewed  their  courage.  However,  there  were 
those  who  broke  from  the  party  ranks  and  became 
desperate  in  their  opposition  to  the  bill.  The  fight 
became  so  exhilarating  that  Republicans  and  Progres- 
sives entered  the  lists  enthusiastically  and  lined  up  on 
both  sides  of  the  issue.  It  was  indeed  a  great  fight, 
and  no  man  in  any  business  "could  have  more  rigidly 
kept  office  hours  or  displayed  more  industry"  than 
President  Wilson  did.  His  personal  washes  were 
stamped  everywhere  upon  the  bill  and  his  leadership 
became  so  marked  that  manufacturers  and  all  high 
protective  tariff  advocates  were  warned  again  to  make 
their  business  ready  for  the  change  that  seemed  to  be 
inevitable. 

When  he  hurled  his  attack  against  the  lobbyists  he 
was  called  a  "dictator"  and  when  he  refused  to  yield 
to  the  demands  of  the  manufacturers,  they  spoke  of 


80  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

*'the  pale  lean  scholar  in  the  White  House"  whose 
ignorance  of  business  conditions  will  wreck  the  coun- 
try. However,  the  startling  revelations  that  came  up 
from  the  lobby  investigation  brought  convincing  evi- 
dence of  an  ''iniquitous  invisible  government,"  and  the 
methods  of  Big  Business  were  in  disrepute  before 
the  country.  Therefore,  the  mighty  interests  who  had 
defied  the  people's  will  for  so  many  years  felt  them- 
selves caught  in  the  grip  of  a  Master,  and  they  now 
appealed  to  him  personally  to  withdraw  the  knife  from 
the  old  tariff  schedule  and  save  the  country  from 
financial  ruin. 

''All  business  is  in  a  halting  attitude  because  all 
business  seems  to  be  more  or  less  the  subject  of  legis- 
lative control,"  they  pleaded.  Then  the  great  Frisco 
Railway  system  went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver. 
"Business  needs  emancipation  from  legislative  influ- 
ence. It  has  been  punished  until  it  is  a  nervous  wreck, '  * 
they  complained.  And  the  President  assured  them 
that  it  was  his  great  ambition  to  emancipate  business 
from  legislative  influence  and  throw  it  back  on  its 
own  initiative.  But  this  was  not  the  assurance  that 
was  desired,  and  "mutterings  of  a  silent  panic"  were 
heard  in  the  land.  Then  a  large  trust  company  failed, 
and  tight  money,  decline  of  stocks,  and  great  business 
depression  became  the  topics  of  conversation  in  the 
streets,  in  the  clubs,  around  the  capitol,  and  in  the 
committee  rooms. 


A  NEW  TARIFF  .  81 

If  these  things  were  so  in  an  era  of  great  prosperity, 
the  President  argued,  then  new  currency  legislation 
was  absolutely  necessary  and  should  be  pressed  imme- 
diately. What  did  the  man  mean?  His  administration 
was  not  three  months  old,  it  was  argued,  yet  his  tariff 
agitation  was  already  producing  hard  times,  and  now 
he  would  start  another  agitation  that  would  simply 
knock  the  bottom  out  of  everything,  and  Big  Business 
tumbled  headlong  into  the  blue  shadows. 

Dignified  Senators  and  Members  smiled  at  the 
thought  of  attempting  to  pass  two  such  important 
measures  with  summer  already  at  hand.  The  nation's 
representatives  could  not  be  expected  to  swelter  in 
Washington  all  through  **dog  days"  while  others  were 
reveling  in  the  invigorating  sea  breezes  or  relaxing 
under  the  influence  of  the  cool  mountain  air.  However, 
Mr.  Wilson,  on  June  23,  did  appear  the  second  time 
before  Congress;  and  this  time,  to  ask  the  Members 
and  Senators,  now  that  the  tariff  bill  was  moving  for- 
ward so  satisfactorily,  to  prepare  to  take  the  second 
step  just  as  soon  as  the  tariff  bill  was  out  of  the  way. 
But  this  second  step  will  be  discussed  in  the  next 
chapter. 

However,  Mr.  Wilson  had  started  two  great  meas- 
ures through  Congress,  and  this  too,  at  a  time 
when  many  Senators  and  Members  were  thinking  of 
adjourning  for  the  summer.  It  was  argued  that  they 
could  go  away  during  the  hot  months,  recuperate,  and 


82  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PEESIDEXT 

return  in  the  fall.  In  this  way  they  would  be  able  to 
complete  both  bills,  certainly  the  tariff  bill,  before  the 
beginning  of  the  first  regular  session  of  the  63rd 
Congress  in  December. 

When  it  Avas  first  rumored  that  Senators  and  Mem- 
bers wished  to  adjourn  for  the  summer,  Mr.  Wilson 
urged  them  quietly  and  calmly  to  pass  both  the  tariff 
and  the  currency  bills  during  the  special  session.  That, 
of  course,  was  asking  entirely  too  much,  many  thought. 
But  they  argued  that  they  could  pass  the  tariff  bill  by 
August  and  under  the  strange  influence  that  was 
emanating  from  the  White  House  they  got  down  to 
business. 

The  summer  was  by  no  means  dull  and  monotonous. 
The  revelations  that  came  from  the  investigation  of 
the  '* iniquitous  w^hispering  system"  that  had  influ- 
enced legislation  in  the  past  and  was  encamped  around 
the  Capitol  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  both  the  tariff 
and  the  currency  bills,  acted  as  a  tonic  to  the  nation 
and  a  stimulus  to  Congress.  Even  in  the  midst  of  the 
summer  heat  when  Senators  and  Members  were  chafing 
under  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  them,  the  rout  of 
the  lobbyist,  and  the  example  of  the  President,  dis- 
playing such  unparalleled  industry,  gave  an  impulse 
and  a  sustained  force  to  Congress  which  made  legisla- 
tion that  seemed  impossible  only  a  few  weeks  before, 
not  only  seem  possible  now  but  certain. 

In  the  meantime  the  old  Democratic  party,  with  a 


A  NEW  TARIFF  83 

reputation  for  factions  and  dissensions,  was  giving 
evidence  of  team  work  that  was  a  surprise  to  its  mem- 
bers as  well  as  to  their  partisan  opponents.  What 
great  influence  was  at  work?  No  man  could  actually 
define  it,  but  its  source  was  traced  to  the  White  House. 

The  tariff  bill  had  a  good  road  ahead  and  as  obstruc- 
tions began  to  vanish  Congress  acquired  new  courage 
and  the  momentum  increased.  Not  even  wool  and 
sugar  could  escape  the  knife.  The  few  insurgents  left 
in  the  party  were  desperate  and  the  press  w^as  con- 
stantly proclaiming  that  they  would  defeat  the  bill. 
However,  it  did  pass  the  House  by  a  tremendous 
majority.  But  that  was  expected.  Then  it  went  to 
the  Senate,  and  many  confidently  said  that  it  would 
never  pass  that  body,  since  the  Democratic  majority 
was  so  small,  and  insurgents  had  already  appeared  that 
made  the  defeat  practically  certain. 

Here,  again,  the  influence  of  the  President  was  felt 
and  when  there  w^as  an  effort  to  weaken  the  bill  in  the 
Senate,  a  Democratic  Caucus  of  the  Senate  was  called, 
early  in  July,  and  it  resolved,  *'That  the  tariff  bill 
agreed  to  by  this  conference  in  its  amended  form  is 
declared  to  be  a  party  measure,  and  we  urge  its 
undivided  support  as  a  duty  by  Democratic  Senators 
without  amendment,  provided,  however,  that  the  Con- 
ference or  the  Finance  Committee  may,  after  reference 
or  otherwise,  propose  amendments  to  the  bill." 

A  door  was  left  open  to  reasonable  amendments,  but 


84  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  action  of  every  Democratic  Senator  now  became  a 
matter  of  party  honor.  The  work  of  revising  the 
schedule  continued  throughout  the  month  of  July,  and, 
barring  a  few  partisan  papers  that  were  avowedly  in 
favor  of  protection,  the  public  expression  shoAved 
signs  of  a  revival  of  industry  and  of  trade,  and  the 
demands  that  came  up  to  Congress  for  a  new  protective 
tariff  law  were  becoming  more  and  more  insistent. 

There  was  too  much  energy  in  the  nation  for  indus- 
tries *'to  crumble  into  ruins,"  and  the  growing  revival 
in  business  was  too  real  for  labor  ''to  groan  under  the 
depression. ' '  The  press  of  the  country  began  to  carry 
new  headlines,  ''The  Tariff  Bill  will  Certainly  Pass," 
and  the  business  of  the  country  went  to  work  seriously 
to  adjust  itself  to  the  inevitable.  Like  the  foolish 
virgins,  however,  they  had  slumbered  and  slept  and 
dreamt  of  anything  else  but  a  marriage  feast.  And 
the  readjustment  was  at  hand.  On  September  9,  the 
bill  passed  the  Senate  with  certain  minor  amendments 
that  had  to  be  concurred  in  by  the  House. 

How  had  it  been  accomplished?  At  the  first,  Mr. 
Wilson  unveiled  his  purpose  to  have  an  active  part 
in  law-making  not  by  coercion,  by  threats,  nor  by 
bluster,  but  by  wise  leadership.  His  methods  were 
unique.  First  committees  of  the  House  and  Senate,  the 
real  leaders  of  Congress,  began  the  preparation  of  a 
bill.  Then  it  was  discussed  by  the  people  at  large. 
Evervbodv  discussed  it.    Mv.  Wilson  was  a  firm  believer 


A  NEW  TARIFF  8 


^ 


in  the  force  of  public  opinion  which  he  repeatedly 
declared  ''is  the  mistress  of  the  world."  Then  he 
sat  quietly  and  Avatched  public  opinion  form  while  ''the 
whispering  system"  and  "the  self  appointed  trustees" 
Avere  holding  "inside  room"  conferences  and  planning 
to  impose  their  selfish  schemes  upon  Congress. 

"The  people  know  what  they  want,"  he  declared 
and  Congress  felt  an  irresistible  force  driving  them 
f  orAvard.  It  was  the  spirit  of  the  people  at  work  guided 
by  a  master  hand  who  was  adopting  the  strangest 
political  tactics  that  Congress  had  ever  witnessed. 
With  this  instrument  in  his  hand  he  was  almost 
invincible.  The  final  passage  of  the  bill  seemed  so 
ridiculously  simple  and  the  familiarity  Avith  this  epoch- 
making  piece  of  legislation  Avas  so  general  that  the 
intense  struggle  for  six  months  Avas  almost  forgotten 
as  opposition  melted  aAvay.  "Why,  it  actually  appeared 
that  the  country  was  really  waiting  for  Congress  cheer- 
fully to  hand  over  the  completed  bill.  There  was 
less  grumbling  then  by  all  parties  than  by  his  OAvn 
party  Avhen  he  first  made  his  appearance  in  the  capitol 
and  overturned  a  century  old  precedent  by  addressing 
Congress.  But  the  united  efforts  of  the  Executive  and 
Legislative  poAvers  had  triumphed  over  the  most  power- 
ful forces  ever  at  Avork  in  the  nation's  capital.  The 
President  and  Congressional  leaders  had  learned  to 
Avork  together.     Eternal  vigilance  on  the  part  of  both 


86  VVOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

was  the   price  that  was   paid   for  this   first  important 
piece  of  legislation. 

On  the  day  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  by  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Wilson  issued  a  public  statement  which  showed 
how  keenly  he  appreciated  the  work  of  the  two  Houses. 
He  said: 

*^A  fight  for  the  people  and  for  free  business 
which  has  lasted  a  long  generation  through  has 
at  last  been  w^on,  handsomely  and  completely.  A 
leadership  and  a  steadfastness  in  counsel  has  been 
sliowm  in  both  Houses,  of  which  the  Democratic 
party  has  reason  to  be  proud.  There  has  been  no 
w^eakness  or  confusion  in  drawing  back,  but  a 
statesmanlike  directness  and  command  of  cir- 
cumstances. 

^'I  am  happy  to  have  been  connected  with  the 
Government  of  the  nation  at  a  time  when  such 
things  could  happen  and  to  have  worked  in  asso- 
ciation with  men  w^ho  could  do  them.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  currency  reform  will 
be  carried  through  with  equal  energy,  directness, 
and  loyalty  to  the  general  interest. 

**When  that  is  done,  this  first  session  of  the 
Sixty-third  Congress  will  have  passed  into  history 
Avith  an  unrivalled  distinction.  I  w^ant  to  express 
my  special  admiration  for  the  devoted,  intelligent, 


A  NEW  TARIFF  87 

and  untiring-  work  of  Mr.  Underwood  and  Mr.  Sim- 
mons, and  the  committee  associated  with  them!" 

Nearly  a  month  elapsed,  however,  after  the  Senate 
passed  the  bill  before  the  two  Houses  could  agree  on 
the  amended  parts  and  pass  it  in  its  completed  form. 
And  on  the  evening  of  Friday,  October  3,  committees 
from  both  the  Senate  and  the  House  carried  the  results 
of  their  labors  to  the  President  for  his  approval.  He 
waited  until  the  close  of  the  business  for  the  day  in 
order  that,  since  the  act  was  to  take  effect  immediately, 
it  might  become  operative  on  the  opening  of  business 
on  the  morning  of  October  4.  After  fixing  his  signa- 
ture to  the  bill  which  goes  into  history  as  the  Under- 
wood-Simmons bill,  he  said : 

*'I  feel  a  very  peculiar  pleasure  in  wdiat  I  have 
just  done  by  way  of  taking  part  in  the  completion 
of  a  great  piece  of  business.  It  is  a  pleasure  which 
is  very  hard  to  state  in  words  adequate  to  express 
the  feeling,  because  the  feeling  that  I  have  is  that 
we  have  done  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people  of 
this  country  a  great  service. 

*^It  is  hard  to  speak  of  these  things  without 
seeming  to  go  off  into  campaign  eloquence,  but 
that  is  not  my  feeling.  It  is  one  very  profound — 
a  feeling  of  profound  gratitude  that  working  with 


88  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  splendid  men  who  have  carried  this  thing 
through  with  studious  attention  and  doing  justice 
all  round,  I  should  have  had  part  in  serving  the 
people  of  this  country  as  we  have  been  striving  to 
serve  them  ever  since  I  can  remember. 

*^I  have  had  the  accomplishment  of  something 
like  this  at  heart  ever  since  I  was  a  boy,  and  I  know 
men  standing  around  me  can  say  the  same  thing — 
who  have  been  waiting  to  see  the  things  done  which 
it  was  necessary  to  do  in  order  that  there  might 
be  justice  in  the  United  States.  And  so  it  is  a  sol- 
emn moment  that  brings  such  a  business  to  a 
conclusion,  and  I  hope  I  will  not  be  thought  to  be 
demanding  too  much  of  myself  or  of  my  colleagues 
w^hen  I  say  that  this,  great  as  it  is,  is  the  accom- 
plishment of  only  half  the  journey. 

^^We  have  set  the  business  of  this  country  free 
from  tliose  conditions  which  have  made  monopoly 
not  only  possible,  but  in  a  sense  easy  and  natural. 
But  there  is  no  use  taking  away  the  conditions  of 
monopoly  if  we  do  not  take  away  also  the  power 
to  create  monopoly,  and  that  is  a  financial  rather 
than  a  merely  circumstantial  and  economical 
power. 

^  ^  The  power  to  control  and  guide  and  direct  the 
credits  of  the  country  is  the  power  to  say  who  shall 


A  NEW  TARIFF  89 

and  who  shall  not  build  up  the  industries  of  the 
counties  in  which  direction  they  shall  be  built,  and 
in  which  direction  they  shall  not  be  built.  We  are 
now  about  to  take  the  second  step,  which  will  be 
the  final  step  in  setting  the  business  of  this  coun- 
try free. 

' '  That  is  what  we  shall  do  in  the  Currency  Bill, 
which  the  House  has  already  passed,  and  which 
I  have  the  utmost  confidence  the  Senate  will  pass 
much  sooner  than  some  pessimistic  individuals  be- 
lieve. Because  the  question— now  that  this  piece 
of  work  is  done— will  arise  all  over  the  country, 
'For  what  do  we  wait!  Why  should  we  wait  to 
crown  ourselves  with  consummate  honor  1  Are 
we  so  self-denying  that  we  do  not  wish  to  complete 
our  success ! ' 

*'I  was  quoting  the  other  day  to  some  of  my 
colleagues  in  the  Senate  those  lines  from  Shake- 
speare's Eenry  V,  which  have  always  appealed  to 
me :  *If  it  be  a  sin  to  covet  honor,  then  am  I  the 
most  offending  soul  alive;'  and  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  I  do  not  covet  it  for  myself  alone. 

'^I  covet  it  with  equal  ardor  for  the  men  who 
are  associated  with  me,  and  the  honor  is  going 
to  come  for  them.  I  am  their  associate.  I  can 
only  complete  the  work  which  they  do.    I  can  only 


90  WOODRO\\'  WILJSOX  AS  PRESIDENT 

counsel  when  they  ask  for  ni}^  counsel.  I  can  come 
in  only  when  the  last  stages  of  the  business  are 
reached. 

*^And  I  covet  this  honor  for  them  quite  as 
much  as  I  covet  it  for  myself.  And  I  covet  it  for 
the  great  party  of  which  I  am  a  member ;  because 
that  party  is  not  honorable  unless  it  redeems  its 
name  and  serves  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

*^So  I  feel  tonight  like  a  man  who  is  lodging 
happily  in  the  inn  which  lies  half  way  along  the 
journey  and  that  in  the  morning  with  a  fresh  im- 
pulse we  shall  go  the  rest  of  the  journey  and  sleep 
at  the  journey's  end  like  men  with  quiet  con- 
sciences, knowing  that  we  have  served  our  fellow 
men,  and  have,  thereby,  tried  to  serve  God." 


CHAPTER  V 


A    NEW    CURREiNCY— THE    SECOND    STAGE    IN 

THE  JOURNEY 

The  tariff  bill  moved  so  smoothly  through  the  House 
that  the  President  decided,  early  in  May,  to  press  cur- 
rency reform  without  delay.    His  prestige  and  influence 
at  that  time  was  very  great,  and  it  was  said  that  *'he 
is    gradually    imparting    to    the    American    forms    of 
government  a  smoothness  and  flexibility  it  had  hitherto 
lacked. ' '    There  was  no  question  now  as  to  his  leader- 
ship.   Therefore,  when  the  nation  realized  that  he  was 
determined  to  press  a  second  great  reform  he  was  ad- 
vised  to   move   with   care    and   deliberation,    since    a 
change  in  the  currency  was  more  dreaded  by  a  certain 
element  in  the  nation  than  a  reduction  in  the  tariff. 
The  banking  law  in  force  was  enacted  during  the 
Civil  War  and  was  a  war  measure.     The  Government, 
in  order  to  secure  money  to  prosecute  the  war,  had  to 
issue  bonds  which  it  found  difficult  to  sell.     It  was 
provided,   therefore,   that  the   banks   might  take   the 
bonds  and  issue  bank  notes  based  upon  them.     This 
expedient  solved  the  problem  and  was  a  sound  tem- 
porary measure.     However,  it  was  a  very  inflexible 

91 


92  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

system  and  one  that  could  not  adapt  itself  to  the 
changing  needs  of  trade.  Moreover,  there  was  no 
central  institution  which  could  aid  in  mobilizing  the 
resources  of  the  country  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
an  active  trade  or  of  a  credit  crisis. 

More  than  half  a  century  had  passed  since  the 
original  law  was  enacted.  Since  that  time  the  nation 
had  been  made  over  again.  A  new  industrial  era  had 
appeared ;  new  business  methods  were  employed ;  and  a 
new  currency  was  needed.  The  bankers  of  the  nation 
had  pointed  out  these  serious  defects,  and  several 
attempts  had  been  made  to  remedy  them.  The  political 
parties  admitted  that  reform  was  absolutely  necessary, 
and  the  American  Bankers'  Association  had  signified 
its  willingness  to  cooperate  Avith  any  party  that  would 
attempt  to  give  this  country  relief. 

The  old  banking  laws  were  not  only  out  of  date,  but 
they  were  a  menace  to  the  entire  country.  They  could 
be  used  by  a  small  group  of  bankers  to  tie  up  the 
money  market  and  produce  a  panic.  Instead  of  the 
nation's  controlling  the  currency  for  the  benefit  of  all, 
a  few  money  barons  controlled  it ;  and  they  were  as 
jealous  of  this  power  as  if  they  had  received  it  through 
a  special  dispensation  of  providence.  The  small  banks 
of  the  towns  and  villages  were  absolutely  at  their 
mercy,  and  there  w^as  neither  justice  nor  freedom  in 
the  flow  of  the  money  currents.  The  money  barons 
caused  the  panic  of  1907  at  a  time  of  great  national 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  93 

prosperity,  and  the  investigations  of  the  Pujo  Commit- 
tee brought  out  the  fact  that  it  was  possible  at  almost 
any  time  for  a  certain  small  group  of  bankers  to 
produce  another  panic  and  the  entire  treasury  and 
resources  of  the  United  States  were  helpless  to  avoid  it. 
Almost  every  well  informed  person  admitted  these 
facts.  The  whole  country  demanded  the  reform  except 
the  small  group  of  money  barons  who  were  in  power, 
and  a  short  time  before,  the  nation  witnessed  the 
spectacle  of  Congress  attempting  to  correct  the  evil, 
but  permitting  these  autocrats  virtually  to  write  the 
bill.  No  one  expected  that  they  would  dethrone 
themselves. 

President  "Wilson,  however,  announced  that  a  new 
era  was  at  hand,  that  the  nation  demanded  currency 
reform,  and  that  this  reform  would  come.  These  words 
were  vigorously  applauded.  However,  when  he  showed 
a  determination  to  act  at  once  and  to  throw  the  united 
party  behind  the  movement  to  correct  the  evils  com- 
plained of,  the  business  of  the  country  was  afflicted 
with  a  sinking  of  the  heart,  and  the  bankers  advised 
Congress  in  the  most  solemn  tones  to  have  a  care.  A 
habit  of  fifty  years  was  about  to  be  broken,  and  the 
nervous  system  was  afraid  of  the  shock. 

The  country  was  not  yet  accustomed  to  the  habits  of 
the  new  Chief  Executive.  He  neither  initiated  legisla- 
tion nor  discussed  the  details  of  any  measure  in  his 
public   addresses.     It  was   his   policy   to   remind   the 


94  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Democrats  of  their  promises  and  to  urge  Congress  to 
act  as  promptly  as  possible.  He  was  an  executive,  not 
a  legislator.  His  calling  Congress  in  extra  session  as 
soon  as  possible  and  reminding  the  Democrats  that 
they  were  in  honor  bound  to  reform  the  tariff,  was 
within  his  province  as  an  executive.  But,  he  had  little 
to  say  in  his  message  about  the  methods  of  reducing 
rates. 

It  soon  became  a  certainty  that  the  President  ex- 
pected Congress  to  give  the  needed  currency  reform, 
and  that  too  without  delay.  The  Senate  and  House 
Committees  were  already  very  active,  and  the  country 
was  nervous.  A  variety  of  expedients  and  plans  were 
submitted  to  Congress.  That  body  was  urged  to  be 
on  guard  against  the  insidious  influence  of  Wall  Street, 
the  pressure  of  the  Western  farmers,  the  provincialism 
of  the  Southern  Cotton  Conventions,  and  the  unwar- 
ranted urgencies  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  In  other 
words,  every  possible  danger  or  imagined  evil  that 
might  follow  a  change  in  the  currency  law  was  held 
up  to  public  gaze,  with  the  purpose  of  forcing  Congress 
to  move  deliberately  and  cautiously.  The  nation 
earnestly  desired  reform,  but  was  really  afraid  of 
haste. 

The  spring  of  1913  was  unusually  exciting  from  a 
political  standpoint.  If  the  fight  on  the  tariff  could 
not  provide  a  sensation,  rumors  of  a  hastily  hatched 
up  currency  law  could  produce  the  desired  excitement. 


A  NEW  CURREXCY  95 

It  was  the  habit  of  business  to  become  panicky  while 
the  tariff  was  under  discussion.  But  to  think  of  a 
Democratic  Administration  in  the  act  of  passing  an 
anti-protective  tariff  bill  and  at  the  same  time  pressing 
a  bill  for  currency  reform  was  more  than  the  public 
could  really  assimilate  without  a  considerable  jolt  to 
its  entire  nervous  system.  But  the  President  was  a 
good  psychologist.  After  the  country  had  discussed 
the  defects  of  the  old  law  and  suggested  innumerable 
remedies,  he  appeared  at  the  Capitol  on  the  morning  of 
June  23,  and  before  the  joint  session  of  the  two 
Houses,  advised  them  to  move  up  to  the  second  stage 
of  the  journey  to  the  New  Freedom.  His  second  ap- 
pearance before  the  Senate  and  Members  established 
the  habit,  and  he  could  now  talk  to  them  directly 
instead  of  '^hailing  Congress  from  some  isolated  posi- 
tion of  jealous  power. 


J  > 


*^It  is  under  the  compulsion  of  what  seems  to 
me  a  clear  and  imperative  duty,"  he  began,  *^tliat 
I  have  a  second  time  this  session  sought  the  priv- 
ilege of  addressing  you  in  person.  I  know,  of 
course,  that  the  heated  season  of  the  year  is  upon 
us,  that  work  in  these  chambers  and  in  the  com- 
mittee rooms  is  likely  to  become  a  burden  as  the 
season  lengthens,  and  that  every  consideration  of 
personal  convenience  and  personal  comfort,  per- 


96  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

haps,  in  the  cases  of  some  of  us,  considerations  of 
personal  health  even,  dictate  an  early  conclusion 
of  the  deliberations  of  the  session;  but  there  are 
occasions  of  public  duty  when  these  things  which 
touch  us  privately  seem  very  small ;  when  the  work 
to  be  done  is  so  pressing  and  so  fraught  with  big 
consequences  that  we  know  that  we  are  not  at 
liberty  to  weigh  against  it  any  point  of  personal 
sacrifice.  We  are  now  in  the  presence  of  such  an 
occasion. 

*  ^  It  is  absolutely  imperative  that  we  should  give 
the  business  men  of  this  country  a  banking  and 
currency  system  by  means  of  which  they  can  make 
use  of  the  freedom  of  enterprise  and  of  individual 
initiative  which  we  are  about  to  bestow  upon  them. 
We  are  about  to  set  them  free ;  we  must  not  leave 
them  without  the  tools  of  action  when  they  are 
free.  We  are  about  to  set  them  free  by  removing 
the  trammels  of  protective  tariff.  Ever  since  the 
Civil  War  they  have  waited  for  this  emancipation 
and  for  the  free  opportunities  it  will  bring  with 
it.  It  has  been  reserved  for  us  to  give  it  to  them. 
Some  fell  in  love,  indeed,  with  slothful  security  of 
their  dependence  upon  the  Government ;  some  took 
advantage  of  the  shelter  of  the  nursery  to  set  up  a 
mimic  mastery  of  their  own  within  its  walls.    Now 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  97 

both  the  tonic  and  discipline  of  liberty  and  matur- 
ity are  about  to  ensue. 

*' There  will  be  some  readjustments  of  purpose 
and  point  of  view.  There  will  follow  a  period  of 
expansion  and  new  enterprise,  freshly  conceived. 
It  is  for  us  to  determine  now  whether  it  shall  be 
rapid  and  facile  and  of  easy  accomplishment.  This 
it  cannot  be  unless  the  resourceful  business  men 
who  are  to  deal  with  the  new  circumstances  are  to 
have  in  hand  and  ready  to  use  the  instrumentalities 
and  the  conveniences  of  free  enterprise  which  in- 
dependent men  need  when  acting  on  their  own 

initiative. 

^^It  is  not  enough  to  strike  the  shackles  from 
business.  The  duty  of  statesmanship  is  not  neg- 
ative merely.  It  is  constructive  also.  We  must 
show  that  we  understand  what  business  needs  and 
that  we  know  how  to  supply  it.  No  man,  however 
casual  and  superficial  his  observation  of  the  con- 
ditions now  prevailing  in  the  country,  can  fail  to 
see  that  one  of  the  chief  things  business  needs  now, 
and  will  need  increasingly  as  it  gains  in  scope  and 
vigor  in  the  years  immediately  ahead  of  us,  is  the 
proper  means  by  which  readily  to  vitalize  its 
credit,  corporate  and  individual,  and  its  origina- 
tive brains.    A^liat  will  it  profit  us  to  be  free  if  we 


98  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

are  not  to  liave  the  best  and  most  accessible  in- 
strumentalities of  commerce  and  enterprise? 
What  will  it  profit  us  to  be  quit  of  one  kind  of 
monopoly  if  we  are  to  remain  in  the  grip  of  an- 
other and  more  effective  kind?  How  are  we  to 
gain  and  keep  the  confidence  of  the  business  com- 
munity unless  we  show  that  we  know  how  both  to 
aid  and  protect  it  1  What  shall  we  say  if  we  make 
fresh  enterprise  necessary  and  also  make  it  very 
difficult  by  leaving  all  else  except  the  tariff  just 
as  we  found  it? 

^'The  tyrannies  of  business,  big  and  little,  lie 
within  the  field  of  credit.  We  know  that.  Shall 
we  not  act  upon  the  knowledge?  Do  we  not  know 
how  to  act  upon  it?  If  a  man  cannot  make  his  as- 
sets available  at  pleasure,  his  assets  of  capacity 
and  character  and  resource,  what  satisfaction  is 
it  to  him  to  see  opportunity  beckoning  to  him  on 
every  hand,  when  others  have  the  key  of  credit  in 
their  pockets  and  treat  them  as  all  but  their  own 
private  possession?  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  it 
is  our  duty  to  supply  the  new  banking  and  cur- 
rency system  the  country  needs,  and  it  will  need 
it  immediately  more  than  it  has  ever  needed  it 
before. 

*'The  only  question  is.  When  shall  we  supply 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  99 

it — now,  or  later,  after  the  demands  shall  have 
become  reproaches  that  we  were  so  dull  and  so 
slow?  Shall  we  hasten  to  change  the  tariff  laws 
and  then  be  laggards  about  making  it  easy  and 
possible  for  the  country  to  take  advantage  of  the 
change?  There  can  be  only  one  answer  to  that 
question.  We  must  act  now,  at  whatever  sacrifice 
to  ourselves.  It  is  a  duty  which  the  circumstances 
forbid  us  to  postpone.  I  should  be  recreant  to  my 
deepest  convictions  of  public  obligation  did  I  not 
press  it  upon  you  with  solemn  and  urgent 
insistence. 

''The  principles  upon  which  we  should  act  are 
also  clear.  The  country  has  sought  and  seen  its 
path  in  this  matter  within  the  last  few  years- 
seen  it  more  clearly  now  than  it  ever  saw  it  be- 
fore— much  more  clearly  than  when  the  last  legis- 
lative proposals  on  the  subject  were  made.  We 
must  have  a  currency,  not  rigid  as  now,  but  read- 
ily, elastically  responsive  to  sound  credit,  the  ex- 
panding and  contracting  credits  of  everyday 
transactions,  the  normal  ebb  and  flow  of  personal 
and  corporate  dealings.  Our  banking  laws  must 
mobilize  reserves ;  must  not  permit  the  concentra- 
tion anywhere  in  a  few  hands  of  the  monetary  re- 
sources of  the  country  or  their  use  for  speculative 


100  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

purposes  in  such  volume  as  to  hinder  or  impede 
or  stand  in  the  way  of  other  more  legitimate,  more 
fruitful  uses.  And  the  control  of  the  system  of 
banking  and  of  issue  which  our  new  laws  are  to 
set  up  must  be  public,  not  private,  must  be  vested 
in  the  Government  itself,  so  that  the  banks  may 
be  the  instruments,  not  the  masters,  of  business 
and  of  individual  enterprise  and  initiative. 

'  ^  The  committees  of  the  Congress  to  which  legis- 
lation of  this  character  is  referred  have  devoted 
careful  and  dispassionate  study  to  the  means  of 
accomplishing  these  objects.  They  have  honored 
me  by  consulting  me.  They  are  ready  to  suggest 
action.  I  have  come  to  you  as  the  head  of  the 
Government  and  the  responsible  leader  of  the 
party  in  power,  to  urge  action  now,  while  there  is 
time  to  serve  the  country  deliberately  and  as  we 
should,  in  a  clear  air  of  common  council.  I  appeal 
to  you  with  a  deep  conviction  of  duty.  I  believe 
that  you  share  this  conviction.  I  therefore  appeal 
to  you  with  confidence.  I  am  at  your  service  with- 
out reserve  to  play  my  part  in  any  way  you  may 
call  upon  me  to  play  it  in  this  great  enterprise  of 
exigent  refonii  which  it  wdll  dignify  and  distin- 
guish us  to  perform  and  discredit  us  to  neglect. ' ' 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  101 

This  deliverance,  like  his  tariff  message,  was  so  unlike 
all  former  Presidential  messages  that  a  new  category- 
is  necessary  to  give  it  the  proper  classification.  It 
was  an  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  the  Representatives 
and  Senators,  not  a  message.  He  had  answered  all 
the  complaints  that  had  come  up  from  members  who 
wished  to  avoid  the  irksome  days  of  the  summer 
months.  He  was  appealing  to  them  to  think  more  of 
the  party  promises  than  of  their  personal  comfort.  He 
was  reasoning  with  them  that  the  tariff  law  should  be 
accompanied  with  a  sound  currency  law  if  they  would 
escape  the  criticism  that  might  justly  arise  from  the 
business  of  the  country.  He  was  pleading  with  them 
to  prove  to  the  nation  that  the  Democratic  party 
''understands  what  business  needs''  and  ''knows  how 
to  supply  it";  and  finally,  he  was  urging  Representa- 
tives and  Senators  to  act  at  once  and  wuth  deliberation. 
And  it  was  this  "act  at  once"  that  business  feared. 

The  delivery  of  this  second  appeal  to  Congress  occu- 
pied exactly  nine  minutes,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  in  both  of  his  addresses  to  Congress  he  did  not 
discuss  or  analyze  the  important  measures  that  were 
to  be  considered  by  Congress.  In  each  instance  he  did 
not  address  Congress  until  that  body  was  ready  to  act 
on  the  measures  and  after  the  public  had  been  dis- 
cussing them  for  weeks.  It  was  very  evident  that  Mr. 
Wilson  was  creating  a  new  precedent. 

Presidents '  messages  hitherto  had  been  formal  treatises 


102  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

on  subjects  already  well  known  to  the  people.  They 
had  become  too  formal  to  be  really  interesting.  But 
in  this  second  address  Mr.  Wilson  had  departed  again 
from  the  old  custom.  He,  the  Executive  of  the  nation, 
was  simply  calling  the  attention  of  Representatives 
and  Senators,  the  Legislative  body  of  the  nation,  to  a 
specific  evil — one  at  a  time — and  was  requesting  that 
body  to  remedy  the  evil.  The  Executive  w^as  in  no 
sense  outlining  any  currency  bill  or  suggesting  any  of 
the  details  of  the  bill.  That  was  the  prerogative  of  the 
Legislative  department.  He  was  earnestly  and  solemnly 
advising  the  Senators  and  Representatives  to  act  at 
once,  ** while  there  is  time  to  serve  the  country 
deliberately."  A  few  days  later  he  was  in  Conference 
with  Senators  and  representatives  of  the  American 
Bankers'  Association. 

The  need  of  prompt  action  was  strongly  stated  by 
Mr.  Carter  Glass,  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on 
Banking  and  Currency.    He  said : 

*'For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  it  has  been 
realized  in  this  country  that  there  were  radical  de- 
ficiencies in  our  banking  and  currency  system,  and  for 
at  least  twenty  years  there  have  been  repeated  efforts 
made  to  correct  these  defects.  We  have  been  for  that 
period  of  time  the  scoff  and  the  ridicule,  not  only  of 
the  practical  banker,  but  of  the  scientists  and  text- 
book writers  of  Europe.  Our  own  thinkers,  who  have 
given  study  to  the  question,  have  repeatedly  pointed 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  103 

out  to  the  Congress  that  we  were  operating  under  an 
antiquated  and  out-of-date  banking  and  currency  sys- 
tem, and  that  we  had  prosperity  in  America  in  spite 
of,  rather  than  because  of,  our  banking  and  currency 

system. ' ' 

It  was  generally  agreed  that  the  reserve  funds  of 
the  country  gradually  found  their  way  into  the  vaults 
of  the  great  banks  of  the  country— chiefly  of  New 
York,  ''there  to  be  thrown  into  the  maelstrom  of  stock 
speculation,"  and  when  the  business  of  the  country 
needed  these  funds  for  local  use,  the  large  centers  so 
controlled  the  reserve  that  the  entire  country  was  at 
the  mercy  of  the  large  bankers ;  and  in  times  of  depres- 
sion or  panic  the  country  was  least  responsive  when  it 
should  be  most  responsive.  This  was  not  a  party  com- 
plaint ;  it  was  a  national  evil.  The  task  of  the  Admin- 
istration, therefore,  was  threefold : 

1.  To  shift  the  whole  currency  of  the  nation  from 
the  basis  on  which  it  had  rested  for  more  than  a  half 
century;  namely.  United  States  bonds,  which  was  the 
indebtedness  of  the  nation,  to  the  commercial  assets 
of  the  business  of  the  country.  The  first  was  limited, 
the  second  was  virtually  illimitable. 

2.  To  establish  a  sufficient  number  of  Federal  Re- 
serve banks  into  Avhich  a  certain  percentage  of  the 
currency  of  the  country  might  be  collected  automatic- 
ally, in  order  to  provide  for  the  mobilization  of  the 
reserve  force  of  the  country  to  meet  any  emergency— 


104  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Avhether  to  move  the  cotton  of  the  South,  the  grain  of 
the  West,  drive  the  factories  of  a  given  area,  or  take 
care  of  American  commerce  in  foreign  fields. 

3.  To  provide  a  Federal  Board  of  Control  with 
poAver  over  banking  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  over  the  railroads, 
in  order  that  the  banks  may  serve  the  entire  country 
rather  than  the  speculative  impulse  of  a  small  coterie 
of  bankers. 

Such  a  radical  change  in  our  currencv  laws  could 
not  be  made  without  a  stubborn  fight.  In  the  first  place 
the  people  were  so  accustomed  to  party  government 
that  the  business  of  the  country,  which  was  allied  for 
the  most  part  with  the  Republican  party,  looked  at 
first  upon  the  proposed  currency  bill  as  a  Democratic 
measure.  The  long  partisan  fight  over  the  tariff  was 
responsible  in  a  large  measure  for  this  attitude.  A 
Republican  tariff  was  a  protective  tariff  in  the  interest 
of  business.  A  Democratic  tariff  was  an  anti-protective 
tariff  in  the  interest  of  an  entirely  different  class  of 
citizens.  Therefore,  it  had  become  a  habit  of  mind 
to  think  that  the  party  in  power  would  administer 
the  government  in  the  interest  of  the  party  in  power ; 
hence,  ** pork-barrel"  legislation  and  a  number  of  per- 
plexing laws  that  gave  much  evidence  to  support  this 
belief. 

When  Mr.  Wilson  appeared  at  the  Capitol,  therefore, 
and  asked  Congress  to  reform  the  currency,  the  party 


A  NEW  CUKRENCY  105 

leaders  in  opposition  to  the  Democratic  party,  but  in 
accordance  with  old  conceptions  of  party  government, 
declared  openly  that  the  currency  would  not  be  re- 
formed, that  it  would  not  be  advanced  by  any  measure 
that  the  President  might  force  through  Congress.  The 
partisan  press  continued  the  discussion.  Mr.  Wilson, 
they  said,  knew  nothing  about  the  technical  phases  of 
either  banking  or  currency,  and  the  great  bankers  of 
the  country  were  not  members  of  the  Democratic 
party.  Then  how  could  a  party  whose  leaders  and 
members  knew  so  little  about  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration give  the  country  relief?  But  Mr.  Wilson 
had  declared  that  the  Democratic  party  must  be  turned 
into  an  instrument  to  serve  the  whole  body  of  the 
nation. 

Three  days  after  the  President's  address,  the  bill 
was  introduced  in  the  House  and  in  the  Senate.  When 
it  first  appeared,  it  was  imperfect,  and  many  valid 
objections  to  it  were  raised.  This  was  an  evidence  to 
many  that  the  country  could  expect  no  relief  from  a 
party  that  was  approaching  the  subject  at  one  time 
from  an  academic  standpoint,  and  at  another  time  from 
a  partisan  standpoint.  It  must  be  approached  from  a 
business  standpoint  Avhich  was  another  way  of  sajdng, 
from  a  Republican  standpoint. 

The  old  time  notion  of  party  government  was  so 
strong  that  it  did  not  seem  to  occur  to  the  rank  and 
file  of  either  party  that  it  was  possible  to  secure  the 


106  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

cooperation  of  the  best  thought  in  all  parties  in  work- 
ing out  a  bill  that  would  be  of  lasting  benefit  to  the 
country.  Neither  did  it  seem  to  occur  to  them,  when 
the  outlines  of  the  bill  appeared,  that  the  President 
was  virtually  saying  to  the  nation.  Here  is  the  material 
out  of  which  a  masterpiece  is  to  be  created,  bring  in 
the  workman,  from  whatever  source,  so  that  when  the 
task  is  completed,  the  world  may  recognize  it  as  a 
work  of  art !  On  the  contrary,  the  crude  material  was 
accepted  as  the  finished  product.  Some  laughed  at  it ; 
others  criticized  it;  many  denounced  it;  and  for  the 
time  it  appeared  that  the  opposition  was  more  con- 
cerned over  obstructive  legislation  than  discovering  the 
right  kind  of  legislation.  But  that  attitude  was 
natural.  Moreover,  it  was  consistent  with  party 
government  in  the  past. 

The  President,  however,  had  announced  that  the 
government  w^as  entering  a  new  era.  Old  customs  were 
inadequate.  But  few  saw  then  that  currency  reform 
Avould  be  the  product  of  the  best  thought  of  America, 
that  long  before  it  became  a  law  it  Avould  lose  much 
of  its  partisan  characteristics,  and  that  before  the  end 
of  the  fight,  the  nation  would  witness  Democrats  and 
Republicans  working  together  under  the  Chief  Execu- 
tive of  the  nation  for  the  financial  relief  of  the  whole 
country. 

President  Wilson's  method  was  unique.  He  had 
driven  the  lobbyists  from  the  Capitol,  and  now  he  was 


A  NEW  CURREXCY  107 

showing  the  forces  that  relied  on  lobbyists  how  they 
might  serve  themselves  by  serving  the  whole  country. 
"I  am  listening,"  he  said,  ''I  am  diligently  trying  to 
collect  all  the  brains  that  are  borrowable  in  order  that 
I  shall  not  make  more  blunders  than  it  is  inevitable 
that  a  man  should  make  who  has  great  limitations  of 
knowledge  and  capacity.  And  the  emotion  of  the 
thing  is  so  great  that  I  suppose  I  must  be  some  kind  of 
a  mask  to  conceal  it." 

All  political  parties  were  agreed  that  serious  defects 
existed,  and  the  bankers  of  the  country  were  fully 
aware  of  the  inelasticity  of  the  currency  and  the  great 
need  of  a  sufficiently  large  and  workable  reserve  force. 
However,  a  large  number  of  the  bankers  and  other 
business  men  seemed  to  grow  panicky  over  the  per- 
sistent determination  of  the  Administration  to  remedy 
those  defects.  But  there  was  no  stopping  the 
movement. 

In  July  the  nation  had  become  acquainted  with  the 
leading  features  of  the  bill,  the  purpose  of  which  w^as 
to  provide  '*a  currency  absolutely  responsive  to  the 
business  requirements  of  the  country,  coming  forth 
when  it  is  needed,  and  retiring  at  the  consummation  of 
these  business  transactions."  Moreover,  it  provided 
for  a  reserve  system,  the  purpose  of  which  Avas  to 
prohibit  the  reserve  fund  of  the  country  from  flowing 
to  the  banks  of  the  larger  cities  to  foster  and  encourage 
stock  speculation,  but  w^hich  would  draw  the  currency 


108  VVOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

back  into  the  banks  of  the  various  sections  of  the 
country,  *' there  to  be  held  as  a  sacred  fund,  to  respond 
to  the  business  demands  of  these  various  sections, 
rather  than  to  be  used  in  speculation  purposes.'* 

The  large  financial  centers  at  first  showed  much 
opposition.  But  they  were  urged  by  the  press  of  the 
country  '*to  hesitate  before  defeating  the  bill."  Cap- 
tains of  industry,  who  were  incensed  over  tariff  reduc- 
'tions,  raised  a  protest  and  at  first  offered  only 
obstructions.  But  they  too  Avere  warned  that  some  kind 
of  currency  bill  would  certainly  be  enacted;  and  the 
President  said  kindly,  but  firmly,  that  he  would  be 
delighted  to  have  the  assistance  of  the  patriotic 
bankers  and  business  men  in  working  out  the  right 
kind  of  currency  legislation.  Btit  whether  that  assist- 
ance came  or  not,  a  currency  bill  would  be  enacted. 

In  August  the  Bankers'  Conference  at  Chicago  con- 
sidered the  bill  in  detail  and  from  every  standpoint, 
and  serious  differences  arose  in  that  body  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  bill.  But  one  banker  remarked  *'if  w^e 
cannot  agree  among  ourselves  as  to  the  kind  of  cur- 
rency law  that  is  needed,  what  can  we  expect  of 
Congress?"  Before  this  conference  adjourned,  how- 
ever, a  better  spirit  prevailed  and  several  very  im- 
portant amendments  to  the  bill  were  proposed  which 
seemed  to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  to  certain 
features  that  were  open  to  criticism. 

The  attitude  of  the  Administration  toward  legitimate 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  109 

criticism  from  all  sources  allayed  much  of  the  uneasi- 
ness that  had  prevailed,  and  opposition  began  to  give 
way  to  cooperation.  The  bankers  generally  were  in 
favor  of  one  central  bank  instead  of  twelve  regional 
banks,  although  they  were  by  no  means  unanimous  on 
this  point.  One  of  the  most  stubborn  fights,  however, 
was  made  against  the  provision  of  the  bill  that  denied 
representation  on  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  to  banks. 
It  was  this  fight  that  showed  the  President  to  be  the 
real  leader  of  the  nation.  The  financial  committee 
of  the  House  was  convinced  that  the  bankers  were 
right  in  insisting  on  representation  on  the  Board.  Mr. 
Carter  Glass,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  wrote 
to  the  President,  urging  him  to  change  his  attitude. 

''About  three  days  thereafter,"  Mr.  Glass  said, 
"there  came  to  Washington  a  committee  of  the  greatest 
bankers  in  the  world.  We  were  to  go  up  to  the  White 
House  and  convince  the  President  that  he  was  totally 
wrong  and  impractical  in  his  denial  of  representation 
on  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  to  the  banks.  I  headed 
the  procession  perfectly  confident  that  we  were  going 
to  win  our  case  and  put  the  President  to  confusion. 
But  he  heard  those  great  bankers,  heard  them 
courteously  and  deferentially  and  amiably.  And  after 
they  had  finished  he  quietly  turned  to  us,  and  with 
those  jaws  firmly  set,  said : 

« 

*^  ^Gentlemen,  I  challenge  any  one  of  you  to 


110  WOODROW  WILSOX  AS  PRESIDENT 

name  a  Government  institution  in  this  country  or 
a  government  commission  in  any  civilized  country 
of  the  earth  upon  which  private  interests  have 
representation.' 

''There  was  a  deep  silence.  These  great  bankers 
were  dumb.  They  did  not  undertake  to  answer  him, 
and  from  that  day  I  was  converted.  .  .  .  You  might 
as  well  say  that  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
devised  by  the  government  to  supervise  the  operations 
of  the  great  railroads  of  the  country,  should  have  in 
its  membership  railroad  presidents  and  railroad  gen- 
eral managers  as  to  say  that  the  Federal  Reserve  Board 
to  supervise  the  banking  business  should  be  selected 
in  any  measure  by  the  banks  themselves." 

The  middle  of  August  found  the  Senate  still  dis- 
cussing the  tariff  bill,  the  House  trying  to  complete  the 
currency  bill,  and  the  lobby  enquiry  was  furnishing  one 
sensation  after  another.  The  weather  was  distressingly 
warm,  and  Congress  wanted  to  adjourn.  The  en- 
thusiasm that  characterized  ''unterrified  Democracy" 
at  the  beginning  of  the  term  was  waning.  Time  after 
time  delegations  of  Congressmen  would  go  to  the  White 
House  to  impress  upon  the  President  that  they  wanted 
to  adjourn.  They  wanted  the  teacher  to  ''break  up" 
school.  But  the  President  intimated  that  he  *'had  not 
the  slightest  idea  of  acquiescing  in  the  adjournment  with- 


A  NEW  CURREXCY  HI 

out  the  passage  of  the  currency  bill  as  well  as  the  tariff 
bill." 

Many  Senators  wished  to  finish  the  tariff,  adjourn  and 
leave  the  currency  bill  until  next  term;  and  while 
Congress  was  being  congratulated  for  its  work  on  the 
tariff,  many  of  its  members  showed  much  impatience 
Avith  the  President's  insistence  that  Congress  should 
not  adjourn  until  it  had  enacted  also  the  currency  and 
banking  laws.  And  again  he  declared  that  he  would 
use  all  the  power  he  possessed  to  keep  that  body  in 
session  until  this  act  was  passed.  And  Congress  re- 
mained in  session. 

With  the  tariff  bill  in  the  Senate  and  the  currency 
bill  in  the  House  the  sense  of  obligation  to  the  country 
was  too  great,  and  the  summer  had  passed  before  the 
former  could  be  completed,  and  the  latter  was  too  near 
completion  for  the  members  to  adjourn.  Thus,  by 
keeping  one  important  measure  close  upon  the  heels 
of  the  other,  he  kept  Congress  at  work  until  summer 
had  passed.  The  country  was  amazed,  and  so  was 
Congress. 

The  House  passed  the  bill  on  September  18  with  a 
majority  so  large,  285  to  85,  that  its  partisan  nature 
had  largely  disappeared.  It  was  no  longer  a  Demo- 
cratic measure.  However,  all  the  Democrats  but  three 
supported  it  and  thirty-nine  Republicans  and  Progres- 
sives voted  for  it.  But  the  country  was  not  willing  for 
it  to  become  a  laAV  in  the  shape  that  it  came  from  the 


112  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

House.  And  it  was  already  apparent  that  the  bill 
would  have  rough  sledding  in  the  Senate.  There  was 
a  feeling  that  the  House  had  rushed  the  matter  through 
without  sufficient  deliberation.  Seeing  that  the  Senate 
was  hostile  to  many  features  of  the  House  bill,  Presi- 
dent Wilson  announced  that  he  would  give  up  his 
proposed  vacation  in  order  to  devote  all  of  his  time 
to  Congress.  He  was  still  **  diligently  trying  to  collect 
all  the  brains  that  are  borrowable,"  and  he  needed  all 
that  he  could  borrow  since  the  contest  was  resolving 
itself  into  a  fight  now  between  the  President  and 
certain  Senators. 

President  Wilson  greatly  desired  that  final  action 
should  be  taken  on  the  bill  before  adjournment.  When 
he  signed  the  tariff  bill,  he  said  that  the  tariff  legisla- 
tion was  *Hhe  accomplishment  of  only  half  the  journey. 
.  .  .  We  shall  take  the  second  step  in  the  currency 
bill,  which  the  House  has  already  passed,  and  which 
I  have  the  utmost  confidence  the  Senate  will  pass  much 
sooner  than  some  pessimistic  individuals  believe." 
How^ever,  he  w^as  regarding  with  some  anxiety  the 
delay  and  the  disagreement  in  the  Senate  Committee, 
and  it  was  reported  that  he  was  seriously  inclined  to 
make  public  addresses  on  the  subject  in  the  states  of 
the  Democratic  Senators  who  insisted  on  prolonging  the 
hearings  and  demanded  radical  amendments.  The 
Senate,  however,  could  not  be  hurried.  Chairman 
Owen  desired  that  hearings  should  come  to  an  end. 


A  NEW  CUTvREXCY  II3 

But  he  Avas  voted  down,  and  there  were  many  indica- 
tions of  severe  friction.  President  Wilson  conferred 
with  both  Republican  and  Democratic  Senators,  hoping 
to  hasten  the  Committee's  action,  and  his  faith  in  the 
final  outcome  was  an  encouragement  to  his  supporters 
in  Congress. 

Notwithstanding  the  President's  confidence  and 
optimism,  many  of  the  Senators  saw^  a  gloomy  and 
perilous  road  ahead.  The  bill  seemed  to  be  stuck  in 
the  committee  room.  The  Finance  Committee  w^as  dis- 
posed to  change  the  bill  very  materially.  In  fact,  Mr. 
Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  President  of  the  National  City  Bank 
of  New  York,  one  of  the  largest  banks  in  the  country, 
offered  a  substitute,  providing  for  one  central  bank  as 
opposed  to  the  Administration's  regional  banks,  and 
the  central  bank  feature  seemed  to  be  growing  in  favor 
in  the  Senate.  The  committee  was  of  the  opinion 
that  Government  officials  should  not  sit  on  the  Federal 
Reserve  Board ;  that  better  protection  should  be  given 
to  the  two  per  cent  government  bonds  then  pledged 
against  circulation;  and  that  the  proposed  relations 
between  national  banks  and  regional  banks  would  be 
unjust  to  the  national  banks.  After  a  most  thorough 
discussion  the  President  yielded  somewhat  on  these  last 
two  points.  But  he  remained  absolutely  unchanged  in 
his  opposition  to  the  central  bank  and  to  the  member- 
ship of  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  as  proposed  by  the 
bankers.    There  were  other  minor  points  of  difference. 


114  WOODPvOW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

But  the  fight  was  now  waged  chiefly  at  these  two  points. 

The  committee  made  such  slow  progress  that  the 
Senate  leaders  called  a  caucus,  intending,  it  was  as- 
sumed, to  make  the  House  bill  a  party  measure  and 
take  it  out  of  the  Senate  Committee's  hands.  The 
President  was  endorsing  all  the  main  features  of  the 
Glass-Owen  bill,  but  had  showed  a  disposition  to  yield 
one  or  two  points  as  indicated  above.  He  was  firmly 
opposed  to  the  idea  of  the  central  bank  and  it  was 
openly  talked  that  he  would  veto  the  action  of  Congress 
if  the  currency  bill  passed  containing  that  feature. 

The  first  of  November  came  and  still  the  Committee 
could  not  agree.  In  fact,  the  majority  seemed  to  be 
opposed  to  the  Administration  bill,  and  instead  of  one 
bill,  three  bills  were  about  to  come  forth.  During  the 
fight  in  the  Senate,  the  House  was  complaining  because 
it  had  to  remain  in  session  while  the  Senate  was  doing 
little  better  than  marking  time.  By  the  middle  of 
November  the  Administration  Senators,  having  grown 
impatient  of  the  delay,  bolted  and  held  separate  meet- 
ings, and  a  few  days  later  it  was  decided  to  present 
the  Administration  bill,  the  substitutes  and  certain 
amendments  separately,  and  on  November  25,  Chairman 
Owen  opened  the  debate  in  the  Senate. 

All  hope  for  the  bill  during  the  special  session  was  now 
gone,  since  only  six  days  intervened  before  the  opening 
of  the  63rd  Congress,  and  another  effort  to  adjourn 
was  made,  but  the  President's  influence  was  too  great. 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  115 

Congress  was  not  only  held  together,  but  it  was  decided 
to  hold  night  sessions  and  to  give  no  recess  during  the 
Christmas  holidays,  except  Christmas  Day,  unless  the 
bill  Avas  passed.  The  friends  of  the  measure  had  pre- 
pared themselves  for  a  regular  siege. 

The  task  of  carving  out  a  great  masterpiece  was  too 
great  to  be  rushed  through  to  completion.  A  majority 
of  the  Senate  could  be  secured  to  remain  in  session  and 
to  work  day  and  night,  but  the  Senate  would  not  hurry. 
The  November  elections  indicated  that  the  country  was 
behind  the  Administration,  and  President  Wilson's 
position  was  strengthened.  Throughout  the  exciting 
days  of  the  last  of  November  he  exhibited  such  calm- 
ness and  such  confidence  that  his  supporters  in  the 
House  and  Senate  were  encouraged  to  stand  solidly 
behind  him. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  on  December  1, 
when  the  Special  Assembly  came  to  a  close.  President 
"Wilson  had  performed  the  feat  of  holding  Con- 
gress together  in  continuous  special  session  not  only 
through  the  summer,  but  through  the  autumn  months, 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  completion,  two  months  before 
the  adjournment,  of  the  great  task  for  which  it  was 
primarily  assembled.  The  special  assembly  adjourned 
on  December  1,  and  on  the  next  day  the  63rd  Congress 
convened,  and  again  President  Wilson  appeared  before 
the  joint  session  of  the  two  Houses  to  report,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provision  of  the  Constitution,  on  the  state 


116  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

of  the  country.     He  referred  to  the  currency  bill  in 
these  few  words : 

^^You  already  have  under  consideration  a  bill 
for  the  reform  of  our  system  of  banking  and  cur- 
rency, for  which  the  country  waits  with  impatience, 
as  for  something  fundamental  to  its  whole  busi- 
ness life  and  necessary  to  set  credit  free  from  arbi- 
trary and  artificial  restraints.  I  need  not  say  how 
earnestly  I  hope  for  its  early  enactment  into  law. 
I  take  leave  to  beg  that  the  whole  energy  and  at- 
tention of  the  Senate  be  concentrated  upon  it  until 
the  matter  is  successfully  disposed  of.  And  yet 
I  feel  that  the  request  is  not  needed — that  the  Mem- 
bers of  that  great  House  need  no  urging  in  this 
service  to  the  country. 


>) 


And  the  debate  was  resumed.  Day  after  day  and 
night  after  night  the  details  of  the  bill  Avere  threshed 
out,  and  after  a  week's  discussion,  it  was  openly  talked 
around  the  Capitol  that  the  House  and  the  Senate  were 
hopelessly  divided  and  that  President  Wilson's  leader- 
ship would  be  destroyed  with  the  defeat  of  the  bill. 
There  were  still  a  few  Democrats  who  were  unable  to 
forgive  the  President  for  his  triumph  in  the  tariff  fight 
and  for  the  power  that  had  been  gathered  into  his 
hands.  There  were  others  of  both  parties  who  still 
believed  the  currency  bill  was  too  imperfect  to  become 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  nj 

a  law.  The  Democratic  leaders,  therefore,  became 
somewhat  pessimistic;  the  press  sought  eagerly  for 
some  signs  of  a  compromise ;  and  Senators  and  Members 
were  preparing  to  give  up  their  Christmas  holidays. 

However,  callers  from  the  White  House  brought  back 
the  intelligence  that  the  President,  instead  of  being 
excited  or  disappointed,  was  as  calm  and  as  serene  as 
ever,  and  that  he  was  confident  the  Senate  and  the 
House  would  agree,  and  the  debate  continued,  not  only 
in  the  Senate  but  throughout  the  nation. 

Finally  on  December  19  the  Senate  was  ready  to  vote. 
Some  of  the  amendments  to  the  Administration  bill 
were  lost  by  only  three  votes,  and  in  one  instance  it 
required  the  vote  of  the  Vice-President.  It  was  this 
narrow  margin  that  had  prolonged  the  debate  and 
made  every  detail  of  the  bill  come  under  close  inspec- 
tion. But  on  the  final  vote  the  bill  was  adopted,  54  to 
34.  ^lany  changes  had  been  made  since  it  was  passed 
by  the  House.  But  after  a  conference  of  three  days 
the  House  and  the  Senate  reached  an  agreement,  and 
on  December  23  Congress  arrived  at  ''the  second  stage 
in  the  journey  to  the  new  Freedom." 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  nation.  In  every 
section  of  the  coimtry  the  press  was  declaring  that 
President  Wilson  and  his  associates  in  enacting  the 
banking  and  currency  laws  had  achieved  the  greatest 
triumph  in  a  century.  Moreover,  it  was  the  consensus 
of  opinion   that  members  of  all  parties  and  of  both 


118  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Houses  of  Congress  showed  sincerity  and  patriotism  in 
their  efforts  to  reform  the  currency  and  that  they  grew 
immensely,  during  the  months  of  heated  debate,  in  their 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  banking  and  monetary 
science.  Furthermore,  the  business  of  the  country  was 
pleased  with  the  outcome,  and,  almost  without  excep- 
tion, the  expressed  opinions  declared  that  the  bill 
would  be  acceptable  to  the  country  at  large,  and  a  great 
tribute  was  paid  to  the  skillful  leadership  of  President 
Wilson,  whose  power  and  prestige  was  again  increased, 
since,  through  his  leadership,  Congress  had  performed 
''a  legislative  miracle." 

When  the  bill  was  passed.  Congress  adjourned  for 
the  holidays.  But  committees  from  both  Houses  car- 
ried the  newly  created  masterpiece  to  the  White  House 
to  obtain  the  signature  of  the  President,  and  they  were 
able  to  lay  before  him,  as  the  result  of  their  labor,  a 
new  system  that  was  guaranteed  to  correct  the  evils 
that  the  nation  had  suffered  from  for  nearly  a  half 
century. 

1.  It  discarded  the  old  system  of  bond  secured  cur- 
rency and  reserve  fund  by  basing  currency  upon  com- 
mercial assets  so  that  it  would  respond  automatically 
to  the  commercial,  industrial,  and  agricultural  re- 
quirements. 

2.  It  created  not  less  than  eight  nor  more  than 
twelve  regional  reserve  banks  and  provided  for  the 
transfer  of  the  reserve  funds  to  these  geographical 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  119 

centers  for  the  ready  use  of  the  respective  sections  in 
the  accommodation  of  legitimate  business,  and  made 
the  resources  of  the  whole  country  available  for  im- 
mediate use. 

3.  It  provided  for  the  expansion  of  foreign  trade  by 
authorizing  the  establishment  by  national  banks  of  for- 
eign branches,  thus  giving  American  business  in  foreign 
countries  advantages  equal  to  those  of  competing 
business. 

4.  It  created  a  board  of  control  over  banking  similar 
to  that  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  over 
the  railroads. 

Such  were  the  outlines  of  the  masterpiece  that  had 
been  carved  out  for  the  nation  after  one  of  the  most 
stubborn  fights  in  Congress  since  the  Civil  War.  But 
it  was  at  last  accomplished,  and  the  workmen  who 
helped  to  fashion  the  piece  came  from  the  whole  nation. 
President  Wilson  had  ** borrowed  brains"  from  editors, 
magazine  writers,  economists,  bankers,  manufacturers, 
farmers,  railroad  presidents  and  industrial  workers 
wherever  interest  was  created.  It  was  natural,  there- 
fore, that  he  should  exhibit  more  than  a  little  pride  in 
the  completion  of  the  work,  which,  it  was  declared,  was 
sufficient ' '  to  make  any  Administration  immortal. ' '  After 
signing  the  bill,  he  spoke  these  words  to  those  who  were 
standing  around  his  table: 

*^It  is  a  matter  of  real  gratification  to  me  that 


120  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

in  the  case  of  this  bill  there  should  have  been  so 
considerable  number  of  Republican  votes  cast  for 
it.  All  great  measures  under  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment are  of  necessity  party  measures,  for  the 
party  of  the  majority  is  responsible  for  their 
organization  and  their  passage ;  but  this  cannot  be 
called  a  partisan  measure. 

**It  has  been  relieved  of  all  intimation  of  that 
sort  by  the  cordial  cooperation  of  men  on  the  other 
side  of  the  two  houses,  who  have  acted  wdth  us 
and  have  given  very  substantial  reasons  and  very 
intelligent  reasons  for  acting  with  us,  so  that  I 
think  we  can  go  home  with  the  feeling  that  we 
are  in  better  spirits  for  public  service  than  we 
were  even  when  we  convened  in  April. 

*^As  for  the  bill  itself,  I  feel  that  w^e  can  say 
that  it  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  constructive 
measures  by  which  the  Democratic  party  will 
show  that  it  knows  how  to  serve  the  country.  In 
calling  it  the  first  of  a  series  of  constructive 
measures,  I  need  not  say  that  I  am  not  casting 
any  reflections  on  the  great  tariff  bill  which  pre- 
ceded it.  This  tariff  bill  was  meant  to  remove 
those  impediments  to  American  industry  and  pros- 
perity which  had  so  long  stood  in  their  way.  It  was 
a  great  piece  of  preparation  for  the  achievement 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  121 

of  American  commerce  and  American  industry, 
which  arc  certainly  to  follow. 

^  ^  Then  there  came  ui)on  the  heels  of  it  this  bill 
which  furnishes  the  machinery  for  free  and  elastic 
and  uncontrolled  credits,  put  at  the  disposal  of 
the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  this  country 
for  the  first  time  in  fifty  years.  I  was  refreshing 
my  memory  on  the  passage  of  the  national  bank 
act,  which  came  in  two  pieces,  as  you  know,  in 
February  of  1863  and  in  June  of  1864;  it  is  just 
fifty  years  ago  since  that  measure  suitable  for  that 
time  was  passed,  and  it  has  taken  us  more  than  a 
generation  and  a  half  to  come  to  an  understanding 
as  to  the  readjustments  which  were  necessary  for 
our  own  time.  But  we  have  reached  those  read- 
justments. 

^*I  myself  have  always  felt  when  the  Democratic 
party  was  criticized  as  not  knowing  how  to  serve 
the  business  interests  of  the  country  that  there  was 
no  use  of  replying  to  that  in  words.  The  only  sat- 
isfactory reply  was  in  action.  We  have  written 
the  first  chapter  of  that  reply. 

*^We  are  greatly  favored  by  the  circumstances 
of  our  time.  We  come  at  the  end  of  a  day  of  con- 
test, at  the  end  of  a  day  when  we  have  been  scruti- 
nizing the  processes  of  our  business,  scrutinizing 


122  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

them  with  critical,  and  sometimes  with  hostile  eye. 
We  have  slowly  been  coming  to  this  time  which  has 
now,  happily,  arrived,  when  there  is  a  common  rec- 
ognition of  the  things  that  it  is  undesirable  should 
be  done  in  business  and  the  things  that  it  is  de- 
sirable should  be  done.  What  we  are  proceeding 
to  do  now  is  to  organize  our  peace,  is  to  make  our 
prosperity  not  only  stable  but  free  to  have  an 
unimpeded  momentum. 

^^It  is  so  obvious  that  it  ought  not  to  be  stated 
that  nothing  can  be  good  for  the  country  which  is 
not  good  for  all  of  the  country.  Nothing  can  be 
for  the  interest  of  the  country  which  is  not  for  the 
interest  of  everybody;  therefore,  the  day  of  ac- 
commodation and  of  concession  and  of  common 
understanding  is  the  day  of  peace  and  achievement 
and  of  necessity.  We  have  come  to  the  beginning 
of  the  day.  Men  are  no  longer  resisting  the  con- 
clusions which  the  nation  has  arrived  at  as  to  the 
necessity  of  readjustments  of  its  business. 

^*  Business  men  of  all  sorts  are  showing  their 
willingness  to  come  into  this  arrangement,  which 
I  venture  to  characterize  as  the  constitution  of 
peace.  So  that  by  common  counsel,  and  by  the 
accumulating  force  of  cooperation,  we  are  going 
to  seek  more  and  more  to  serve  the  country. 


A  NEW  CURRENCY  123 

*^I  have  been  surprised  at  the  sudden  acceptance 
of  this  measure  by  public  opinion  everywhere.  I 
say  surprised  because  it  seems  as  if  it  has  suddenly 
become  obvious  to  men  who  had  looked  at  it  with 
too  critical  an  eye  that  it  was  really  meant  in  their 
interest. 

^^They  have  opened  their  eyes  to  see  a  thing, 
which  they  had  supposed  to  be  hostile,  to  be 
friendly  and  serviceable — exactly  what  we  in- 
tended it  to  be,  and  what  w^e  shall  intend  all  our 
legislation  to  be.  The  men  who  have  fought  for 
this  measure  have  fought  nobody.  They  have 
simply  fought  for  those  accommodations  which  are 
going  to  secure  us  in  prosperity  and  in  peace.  No- 
body can  be  the  friend  of  an}^  class  in  America  in 
the  sense  of  being  the  enemy  of  any  other  class. 
You  can  only  be  the  friend  of  one  class  by  showing 
it  the  lines  by  which  it  can  accommodate  itself  to 
the  other  class.  The  lines  of  help  are  always  the 
lines  of  accommodation. 

^'It  is  in  this  spirit,  therefore,  that  we  rejoice 
together  tonight,  and  I  cannot  say  with  what  deep 
emotions  of  gratitude  I  feel  that  I  have  had  a  part 
in  completing  a  work  which  I  think  will  be  of 
lasting  benefit  to  the  business  of  the  country." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY— THE 
THIRD  STAGE  OF  THE  JOURNEY 


<  i 


There  has  been  something  crude  and  heartless  and 
unfeeling  in  our  haste  to  succeed  and  be  great,"  Pres- 
ident Wilson  said  in  his  inaugural  address.  "Our 
thoughts  have  been,  'let  every  man  look  out  for  himself, 
let  every  generation  look  out  for  itself, '  while  we  reared 
giant  machinery  which  made  it  impossible  that  any  but 
those  who  stood  at  the  levers  of  control  should  have  a 
chance  to  look  out  for  themselves. ' '  His  ruling  passion 
was  to  bring  back  to  the  nation  that  old  freedom  that 
existed  when  the  fathers  set  up  a  new  nation  on  this 
continent,  when  the  small  as  well  as  the  great  had  "a 
chance  to  look  out  for  themselves."  To  restore  such 
liberty  in  this  very  complex  business  age  was  an  ideal. 
Was  it  possible  of  realization? 

The  withdrawal  of  governmental  protection  through 
tariff  revision  was  the  first  step.  A  new  banking  law 
and  a  commission,  with  power  over  banking  to  see  that 
the  great  financial  currents  flow  from  the  heart  of  the 
nation  to  the  w^eak  and  depressed  centers  at  a  time  when 
the  need  of  this  life  blood  is  greatest,  was  the  second 

124 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  125 

Step.  But  still  the  question  was  not  answered.  How- 
ever, President  Wilson  assured  the  nation  that,  if  Con- 
gress would  take  this  third  step  as  heroically  as  it  took 
the  first  two,  the  question  would  finally  be  answered. 
Even  before  the  second  step  was  taken,  he  declared  in 
his  address  to  Congress  on  December  2,  1913 : 

''I    think    that   all    thoughtful    observers    will 
agree  that  the  immediate  service  we  owe  the  busi- 
ness communities  of  the  country  is  to  prevent  pri- 
vate monopoly  more  effectually  than  it  has  yet 
been  prevented.    I  think  it  will  be  easily  agreed 
that  we  should  let  the  Sherman  anti-trust  law 
stand  unaltered,  as  it  is,  with  its  debatable  ground 
about  it,  but  that  we  should  as  much  as  possible 
reduce  the  area  of  that  debatable  ground  by  fur- 
ther and  more  explicit  legislation,  and  should  also 
supplement  that  great  act  by  legislation  which 
will  not  only  clarify  it,  but  also  facilitate  its  ad- 
ministration and  make  it  fairer  to  all  concerned. 
No  doubt  we  shall  all  wish,  and  the  country  will 
expect  this  to  be  the  central  subject  of  our  delib- 
erations during  this  session;  but  it  is  a  subject 
so  many-sided  and  so  deserving  of  careful  and 
discriminating  discussion  that  I  shall  take  the  lib- 
erty of  addressing  you  upon  it  in  a  special  mes- 
sage at  a  later  date  than  this.     It  is  of  capital 


126  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

importance  that  the  business  men  of  this  country 
should  be  relieved  of  all  uncertainties  of  law  with 
regard  to  their  enterprises  and  investments,  and 
a  clear  path  indicated  which  they  can  travel  with- 
out anxiety.  It  is  as  important  that  they  should 
be  relieved  of  embarrassment  and  set  free  to 
prosper  as  that  private  monopoly  should  be 
destroyed.  The  ways  of  action  should  be  thrown 
wide  open.'' 

He  was  constantly  calling  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  this  fact,  that  it  was  only  just  to  business  men  for 
Congress  to  relieve  them  of  all  uncertainty.  This  was 
his  excuse  for  driving  the  tariff  through.  The  same 
argument  was  used  when  Senators  and  Members  balked 
at  attempting  the  second  stage  of  the  journey.  "Set 
business  free"  was  his  earnest  appeal.  Take  the  boss 
down  and  let  the  ways  of  action  be  thrown  wide  open. 
But  this  language  the  captains  of  industry  could  not 
understand. 

All  of  the  great  corporations,  called  ''trusts,"  had 
been  formed  under  the  Sherman  anti-trust  law,  which 
was  enacted  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  It  seems 
that  nobody  had  ever  known  how  to  apply  the  law  to  a 
particular  case,  since  it  did  not  cover  exactly  every  im- 
portant feature  in  the  organization  and  growth  of  the 
modern  corporation.   On  the  other  hand,  it  became  very 


THE  DESTEUCTIOX  OF  MONOPOLY  127 

patent  that  methods  of  certain  corporations  in  crushing 
out  business  rivals  were  criminal,  even  under  the  com- 
mon law  and  inexcusable  in  a  country  where  justice  was 
supposed  to  prevail.  Therefore,  the  hatred  of  the  peo- 
ple for  trusts  and  trust  methods  and  even  for  "trust 
made  goods"  had  reached  a  critical  stage.  This  feeling 
was  accompanied  by  a  list  of  indictments  brought  under 
the  Sherman  anti-trust  law  which  are  well  known  today. 

Instead  of  being  a  healthy  preventive,  however,  the 
Sherman  law  was  fast  becoming  a  most  dangerous  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  demagogues,  politicians  and  law- 
yers. As  prosecutions  and  persecutions  continued,  court 
opinions  so  construed  the  law  from  time  to  time  that  it 
had  become  a  patchwork  of  legislative  enactment  and 
judicial  decisions.  The  meaning  was  so  uncertain  that 
any  corporation,  good  or  bad,  might  become  a  prey  to 
designing  lawyers  or  might  be  held  up  by  demagogues 
and  politicians,  and  the  agitation  kept  business  in  a 
depressed  state  and  the  nation  in  a  panicky  condition. 

President  Wilson  was  determined  that  monopoly 
should  be  destroyed  and  that  "the  business  men  of  this 
country  should  be  relieved  of  all  uncertainty  of  the  law 
with  regard  to  their  enterprises  and  investments  and  a 
clearer  path  indicated  which  they  can  travel  without 
anxiety."  And  before  the  currency  law  was  enacted,  he 
notified  Congress  that  he  would  address  them  "in  a  spe- 
cial message  at  a  later  date  than  this."  This  was  the 
signal  for  another  set  of  committees  to  begin  shaping 


128  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

remediable  anti-trust  bills,  and  when  Congress  convened 
after  the  Christmas  holidays,  the  press  notified  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country  that  the  next  "target"  would  be  Big 
Business.  Such  was  the  editorial  interpretation  of 
President  Wilson's  statement,  "I  want  to  see  suspicion 
dissipated.  I  want  to  see  the  time  brought  about  when 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  who 
have  a  stern  attitude  towards  the  business  men  of  the 
country  shall  be  absolutely  done  away  with  and  for- 
gotten." 

It  was  with  considerable  anxietv,  therefore,  that  the 
nation  awaited  the  President's  address,  and  business 
seemed  to  be  very  unsteady.  It  had  been  the  ''target" 
of  the  Administration  for  nine  months,  and  by  this  time 
the  sympathies  of  the  people  were  beginning  to  turn. 
There  was  unquestionably  an  industrial  depression.  Re- 
ports of  interviews  with  merchants  and  bankers,  how- 
ever, did  not  give  the  impression  that  business  was  less 
sound,  but  a  strange  fear  seemed  to  be  fastening  itself 
gradually  upon  the  minds  of  the  people.  Mr.  Oscar 
Underwood,  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee 
of  the  House,  admitted  that  industrial  depression  existed, 
but  he  declared  that  it  began  before  Woodrow  Wilson 
was  elected  President.  Mr.  John  Wanamaker,  however, 
is  reported  to  have  remarked  that  "the  man  who  sees 
nothing  but  disaster  ahead  is  not  a  true  American.  The 
breeders  of  panic  ought  to  be  deported." 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  public  mind  on  January  30 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  ^MONOPOLY  129 

when  Mr.  Wilson  appeared  at  the  Capitol  to  deliver  the 
already  expected  and  widely  heralded  address,  which,  it 
was  predicted,  would  be  the  signal  for  the  beginning  of 
the  great  conflict.  On  this  occasion  he  went  more  into 
detail  than  in  any  previous  address,  pointed  out  certain 
weaknesses  in  the  Sherman  law,  and  stated  specifically 
what  was  necessary  to  complete  the  destruction  and  pre- 
vent the  creation  of  monopoly,  and  relieve  the  business 
men  of  all  uncertainties  of  the  law. 

''In  my  report  'on  the  state  of  the  Union,'  " 
he  began,  "which  I  had  the  privilege  of  reading 
to  you  on  the  2nd  of  December  last,  I  ventured  to 
reserve  for  discussion  at  a  later  date  the  subject 
of  additional  legislation  regarding  the  very  diffi- 
cult and  intricate  matter  of  trusts  and  monop- 
olies. The  time  now  seems  opportune  to  turn 
to  that  great  question;  not  only  because  the  cur- 
rency legislation,  which  absorbed  your  attention 
and  the  attention  of  the  country  in  December,  is 
now  disposed  of,  but  also  because  opinion  seems 
to  be  clearing  about  us  with  singular  rapidity  in 
this  other  great  field  of  action.  In  the  matter 
of  the  currency  it  cleared  suddenly  and  very 
happily  after  the  much  debated  Act  was  passed; 
in  respect  of  the  monopolies  which  have  multi- 
plied about  us  and  in  regard  to  the  various  means 


130  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

by  which  they  have  been  organized  and  main- 
tained, it  seems  to  be  coming  to  a  clear  and  all 
but  universal  agreement  in  anticipation  of  our 
action,  as  if  by  way  of  preparation,  making  the 
way  easier  to  see  and  easier  to  set  out  upon  with 
confidence  and  without  confusion  of  counsel." 

It  was  an  accepted  principle  that  "private  monopoly 
is  indefensible."  However,  the  President  argued  that 
great  business  men  who  organized  and  financed  monopoly 
either  denied  its  existence  or  justified  it  as  necessary 
for  the  effective  maintenance  and  development  of  the 
vast  business  processes  of  the  country  in  the  modern 
circumstances  of  trade  and  manufacture  and  finance. 
But  he  declared  that  the  time  had  come  at  last  to  act, 
that  the  experience  of  a  whole  generation  would  justify 
a  new  interpretation  and  that  the  masters  of  business 
had  already  begun  "to  yield  their  preference  and  pur- 
pose, perhaps  their  judgment  also,  in  honorable  surren- 
der."   What,  then,  was  the  task  ahead  of  Congress? 

^^What  we  are  purposing  to  do,"  he  said,  *4s, 
happily,  not  to  hamper  or  interfere  with  business 
as  enlightened  business  men  prefer  to  do  it,  or 
in  any  sense  to  put  it  under  the  ban.  The  antag- 
onism between  business  and  government  is  over. 
We  are  now  about  to  give  expression  to  the  best 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY       131 

business  judgment  of  America,  to  what  we  know 
to  be  the  business  conscience  and  honor  of  the 
land.  The  government  and  business  men  are 
ready  to  meet  each  other  half  way  in  a  common 
effort  to  square  business  methods  with  both  public 
opinion  and  the  law.  The  best  informed  men  of 
the  business  world  condemn  the  methods  and 
processes  and  consequences  of  monopoly  as  we 
condemn  them;  and  the  instinctive  judgTQent  of 
the  vast  majority  of  business  men  everywhere 
goes  with  them.  We  shall  now  be  their  spokes- 
men. That  is  the  strength  of  our  position  and 
the  sure  prophecy  of  what  will  ensue  when  our 
reasonable  work  is  done.'' 

He  then  declared  that  it  was  possible  to  bring  about 
the  needed  reform  without  seriously  disturbing  business. 
* '  No  measures  of  sweeping  or  novel  change  are  necessary, 
but,"  he  said,  *'we  desire  the  laws  we  are  now  about  to 
pass  to  be  the  bulwarks  and  safeguards  of  industry 
against  the  forces  that  have  disturbed  it."  And  both 
public  opinion  and  business,  he  declared,  were  waiting 
for  the  changes  to  be  made. 

^^It  waits  with  acquiescence,  in  the  first  place, 
for  laws  which  will  effectually  prohibit  and  pre- 
vent such  interlockings  of  the  personnel  of  the 


132  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

directorates  of  great  corporations — banks  and 
railroads,  industrial,  commercial,  and  public  serv- 
ice bodies — as  in  effect  make  those  who  borrow 
and  those  who  lend  practically  one  and  the  same, 
those  who  sell  and  those  who  buy  but  the  same 
persons  trading  with  one  another  under  different 
names  and  in  ditferent  combinations,  and  those 
who  affect  to  compete,  in  fact,  partners  and  mas- 
ters of  some  whole  field  of  business.  Sufficient 
time  should  be  allowed,  of  course,  in  which  to 
effect  these  changes  of  organization  without  in- 
convenience or  confusion." 

After  speaking  of  the  great  advantages  that  would 
come  to  the  people  from  such  a  change,  he  directed  his 
remarks  to  the  second  reform  needed. 

**In  the  second  place,  business  men  as  well  as 
those  who  direct  public  affairs  now  recognize, 
and  recognize  with  painful  clearness,  the  great 
harm  and  injustice  which  has  been  done  to  many, 
if  not  all,  of  the  great  railroad  systems  of  the 
country  by  the  way  in  which  they  have  been 
financed  and  their  own  distinctive  interests  sub- 
ordinated to  the  interests  of  the  men  who  financed 
them  and  of  other  business  enterprises  which 
those  men  wished  to  promote. 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  133 

^^Tlie  country  is  ready,  therefore,  to  accept,  and 
accept  with  relief  as  well  as  approval,  a  law 
which  will  confer  upon  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  the  power  to  superintend  and  reg- 
ulate the  financial  operations  by  which  the  rail- 
roads are  henceforth  to  be  supplied  with  the 
money  they  need  for  their  proper  development 
to  meet  the  rapidly  growing  requirements  of  the 
country  for  increased  and  improved  facilities  of 
transportation.  We  cannot  postpone  action  in 
this  matter  without  leaving  the  railroads  exposed 
to  many  serious  handicaps  and  hazards;  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  railroads  and  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  are  inseparably  connected. 

^^Upon  this  question  those  who  are  chiefly  re- 
sponsible for  the  actual  management  and  opera- 
tion of  the  railroads  have  spoken  very  plainly 
and  very  earnestly,  with  a  purpose  we  ought  to 
be  quick  to  accept.  It  will  be  one  step,  and  a 
ver}^  important  one,  toward  the  necessary  separa- 
tion of  the  business  of  production  from  the  busi- 
ness of  transportation. '' 

A  third  change  that  was  sorely  needed,  he  argued, 
was  further  and  more  explicit  legislative  definition  of 
the  policy  and  meaning  of  the  existing  anti-trust  laws. 


134  WOODKOW  WILSON  AS  PEESIDENT 

*' Nothing  hampers  business  like  uncertainty/' 
he  said.  ^^  Nothing  daunts  or  discourages  it  like 
the  necessity  to  take  chances,  to  run  the  risk  of 
falling  under  the  condemnation  of  the  law  before 
it  can  make  sure  just  what  the  law  is.  Surely 
w^e  are  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  actual  pro- 
cesses and  methods  of  monopoly  and  of  the  many 
hurtful  restraints  of  trade  to  make  definition 
possible,  at  any  rate,  up  to  the  limits  of  what 
experience  has  disclosed.  These  practices,  being 
now  abundantly  disclosed,  can  be  explicitly  and 
item  by  item  forbidden  by  statute  in  such  terms 
as  will  practically  eliminate  uncertainty." 

The  fourth  important  legislation  that  he  asked  for  was 
an  administrative  body,  an  interstate  trade  commission 
to  give  advice  and  definite  guidance  and  information  to 
business  men,  in  order  that  they  might  be  able  to  avoid 
the  pitfalls  of  the  old  Sherman  anti-trust  law. 

^'The  business  men  of  the  country,"  he  said, 
*' desire  such  a  commission,  and  the  opinion  of 
the  country  would  instantly  approve  of  it. 
But  it  would  not  wish  to  see  this  commission 
empowered  to  make  terms  with  monopoly  or  in 
any  sort  to  assume  control  of  business,  as  if  the 
government  made  itself  responsible.    It  demands 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  I35 

8ucli  a  commission  only  as  an  indispensable  ii)- 
strument  of  information  and  publicity,  as  a 
clearing  bouse  for  tbe  facts  by  wbicli  both  the 
public  mind  and  the  managers  of  great  business 
undertakings  should  be  gTiided,  and  as  an  instru- 
mentality for  doing  justice  to  business  where 
the  processes  of  the  courts  or  the  natural  forces 
of  correction  outside  the  courts  are  inadequate 
to  adjust  the  remedy  to  the  wrong  in  a  way  that 
will  meet  all  the  equities  and  circumstances  of 
the  case.V* 

The  fifth  enactment  that  he  asked  for  was  a  clause  in 
the  law  that  would  visit  the  penalty  for  violation  of  the 
act  not  upon  business  but  upon  individuals  ''who  use 
the  instrumentalities  of  business  to  do  things  which 
public  policy  and  sound  business  practice  condemn." 

^^ Every  act  of  business/'  he  argued,  ^4s  done 
at  the  command  or  upon  the  initiative  of  some 
ascertainable  person  or  group  of  persons.  These 
should  be  held  individually  responsible  and  the 
punishment  should  fall  upon  them,  not  upon  the 
business  organizations  of  which  they  make  illegal 
use.  It  should  be  one  of  the  main  objects  of  our 
legislation  to  divest  such  persons  of  their  corpo- 
rate cloak  and  deal  with  them  as  with  those  who 


136  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

do  not  represent  their  corporations,  but  merely 
by  deliberate  intention  break  the  law.  Business 
men  the  country  through,  would,  I  am  sure, 
applaud  us  if  we  were  to  take  effectual  steps  to 
see  that  the  officers  and  directors  of  great  busi- 
ness bodies  were  prevented  from  bringing  them 
and  the  business  of  the  country  into  disrepute  and 
danger. ' ' 

The  sixth  request  that  he  made  of  Congress  was  ''to 
give  private  individuals  who  claim  to  have  been  injured 
by  these  processes  the  right  to  found  their  suits  for  re- 
dress upon  the  facts  and  judgments  proved  and  entered 
in  suits  by  the  government  when  the  government  has, 
upon  its  own  initiative,  sued  the  combinations  complained 
of  and  won  its  suit." 

He  argued  that  ''individuals  who  are  put  out  of  busi- 
ness in  one  unfair  way  or  another  by  the  many  dislodg- 
ing and  exterminating  forces  of  combination ' '  are  really 
at  a  serious  disadvantage  in  trying  to  recover.  There- 
fore, he  said,  "it  is  not  fair  that  the  private  litigant 
should  be  obliged  to  set  up  and  establish  again  the  facts 
which  the  government  has  proved." 

The  seventh  and  last  suggestion  that  his  message  con- 
tained called  for  a  careful  consideration  of  enterprises 
which  are  oftentimes  "interlocked,  not  by  being  under 
the  control  of  the  same  directors,  but  by  the  fact  that 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  137 

the  greater  part  of  their  corporate  stock  is  owned  by  a 
single  individual  or  group  of  persons  who  are  in  some 
way  intimately  related  in  interest. ' ' 

^^We  are  agreed,"  he  said,  ^*I  take  it,  that 
holding  companies  should  be  prohibited,  but  what 
of  the  controlling  private  ownership  of  individ- 
uals or  actually  cooperative  groups  of  indi- 
viduals! Shall  the  private  owners  of  capital 
stock  be  suffered  to  be  themselves  in  effect  hold- 
ing companies  I  We  do  not  wish,  I  suppose,  to 
forbid  the  purchase  of  stocks  by  any  person  who 
pleases  to  buy  them  in  such  quantities  as  he  can 
afford,  or  in  any  way  arbitrarily  to  limit  the  sale 
of  stocks  to  bona  fide  purchasers.  Shall  we  re- 
quire the  owners  of  stock,  when  their  voting 
power  in  several  companies  which  ought  to  be 
independent  of  one  another  w^ould  constitute 
actual  control,  to  make  election  in  which  of  them 
they  will  exercise  their  right  to  vote  I" 

He  had  at  last  disclosed  his  complete  program  and 
was  approaching  the  end.  A  feeling  of  relief  swept  over 
the  Senators  and  IMembers,  and  the  nervous  tension  in 
the  press  galleries  relaxed  when  he  turned  to  his  con- 
cluding paragraph. 

*^I  have  laid  the  case  before  you,"  he  con- 


138  WOODROVV  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

eluded,  *'no  doubt,  as  it  lies  in  your  o\vn  mind, 
so  it  lies  in  the  thought  of  the  country.  What 
must  every  candid  man  say  of  the  suggestions  I 
have  laid  before  you,  of  the  plain  obligations  of 
which  I  have  reminded  you!  That  these  are  new 
things  for  which  the  country  is  not  prepared! 
No;  but  that  they  are  old  things,  now  familiar, 
and  must  of  course  be  undertaken  if  we  are  to 
square  our  laws  with  the  thought  and  desire  of 
the  country.  Until  these  things  are  done,  con- 
scientious business  men  the  country  over  will  be 
unsatisfied.  They  are  in  these  things  our  men- 
tors and  colleagues.  We  are  now  about  to  write 
the  additional  articles  of  our  constitution  of 
peace,  the  peace  that  is  honor  and  freedom  and 
prosperity. 


>) 


Such  was  the  large  program  presented  to  Congress 
by  President  Wilson  in  January,  1914.  The  nation  had 
been  warned  repeatedly  that  his  anti-trust  measures 
were  surely  coming.  This  was  the  occasion  again  for 
business  to  become  somewhat  panicky.  Therefore,  on 
the  20th  of  January  the  stage  was  set,  and  it  was  even 
predicted  that  the  President  and  Big  Business  had  at 
last  come  to  the  death  struggle  and  the  whole  nation  was 
breathless  with  expectation.  A  member  of  Congress  de- 
clared that  ''the  eight  hundred  or  more  trusts  that  now 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  139 

dominate  the  industries  of  the  country  will  put  up  a 
fight  that  will  try  men's  souls." 

However,  after  the  message  was  delivered,  captains  of 
industries,  railroad  presidents,  and  even  anti-AVilson 
newspapers  praised  the  message,  and  it  was  noticeable 
that  ' '  stock  values  sprang  to  higher  levels. ' '  It  was  now 
declared  by  leaders  in  both  parties  that  the  atmosphere 
was  changing,  ''since  there  is  a  disposition  on  the  part 
of  great  business  industries  of  the  country  to  meet  the 
President  in  a  fair  and  square  method  of  adjusting  their 
business  transactions. ' ' 

The  message  was  such  a  surprise  to  those  especially 
interested  that  extremists  who  favored  destroying  at 
once  all  monopoly,  root  and  branch,  declared  that  the 
message  was  a  disappointment  and  that  the  President 
had  "sold  out."  Legitimate  business  had  been  so  har- 
rassed  by  the  threats  of  Congress  and  party  leaders,  that 
it  had  about  despaired  of  securing  justice.  Moreover, 
illegitimate  business  had  had  its  methods  trailed  through 
the  newspapers  and  certain  "malefactors"  had  even 
been  sent  to  penitentiary.  Therefore,  the  country  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  at  last  that  justice  in  spite  of  pro- 
test was  about  to  be  done. 

The  President's  message  gave  legitimate  business 
increased  confidence  and  a  more  wholesome  atmosphere ; 
and  illegitimate  business,  the  hope  that  it,  too,  might 
be  permitted  to  become  respectable  before  the  aveng- 
ing wrath  of   a   just   ruler   should   overtake  it.     The 


140  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

price  of  stocks  and  bonds  showed  a  distinct  gain 
the  morning  afterward,  and  the  business  men  in  every 
section  of  the  nation  were  trying  to  believe  in  the  Presi- 
dent's assurance  that  "the  antagonism  between  business 
and  government  is  over." 

The  form  of  a  great  masterpiece  had  been  outlined 
again  and  Congress  was  set  to  the  task  of  carving  out 
the  delicate  lines. 

The  President  had  learned  from  his  fight  with  the 
Senate  over  the  currency  bill  not  to  ask  for  haste.  More- 
over, the  publication  of  the  bills  that  were  soon  drafted 
to  carry  out  his  recommendations  was  accompanied  by 
the  promise  of  ample  hearings  on  them  and  full  debate. 
The  programme  was  so  comprehensive  that  both  Sen- 
ators and  Members  felt  that  much  time  was  needed  to 
give  them  all  the  consideration  needed.  There  was  con- 
siderable feeling  in  Congress,  too,  that  an  important 
measure  such  as  the  one  before  it  should  not  be  enacted 
during  the  same  session  in  which  it  was  proposed. 

In  the  meantime  the  interlocked  interests  were  being 
voluntarily  unlocked.  Hence,  there  seemed  to  be  no 
pressing  need  for  legislation  along  that  line.  Moreover, 
the  tariff  and  currency  laws  were  still  new,  and  business 
had  not  made  full  adjustment  to  them.  In  fact,  the  new 
currency  law  was  not  yet  in  operation.  Furthermore, 
there  seemed  to  be  no  urgent  public  demand  or  public 
necessity  for  immediate  enactment  of  any  anti-trust 
measures.    On  the  other  hand,  railroads  were  asking  for 


THE  DESTEUCTIOX  OF  MONOPOLY  141 

an  increase  of  freight  rates  on  the  grounds  of  business 
depression,  and  there  did  appear  to  exist  a  serious  lack 
of  confidence  in  tlie  great  trade  markets  of  the  country. 

At  this  time  Congress  began  to  consider  seriously  the 
advisability  of  abandoning  the  anti-trust  measures,  wind- 
ing up  the  necessary  business  to  be  transacted,  and  ad- 
journing at  an  early  date.  It  was  pointed  out  that  Con- 
gress had  been  in  practically  continuous  session  for  a 
much  longer  period  than  any  previous  Congress  in  the 
country's  history,  and  its  members  naturally  and  prop- 
erly wished  to  wind  up  the  business  at  a  date  early 
enough  to  give  them  opportunity  to  prepare  for  the 
Congressional  campaign. 

President  Wilson,  however,  was  steadfast  in  his  con- 
viction that  "nothing  is  more  dangerous  to  business  than 
uncertainty"  and  that  it  was  "a  great  deal  better  to 
do  the  thing  moderately  and  soberly  now  than  wait  until 
more  radical  forces  had  accumulated  and  it  was  neces- 
sary to  go  much  further."  Moreover,  he  was  interview- 
ing the  leading  business  men  of  the  country  and  talking 
with  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  Boards  of  Trade ;  and 
when  a  group  of  manufacturers  visited  the  White  House 
in  May  and  asked  him  to  postpone  carrying  out  the  trust 
program  on  account  of  business  depression,  he  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  that,  while  he  was  aware  of  such 
depression,  there  was  abundant  evidence  to  show  that 
it  was  merely  psychological  and  that  there  was  ''no  nat- 
ural condition  or  substantial  reason  why  the  business  of 


142  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  country  should  not  be  in  the  most  prosperous  and 
expanding  condition."  His  firm  opposition  to  an  ad- 
journment before  the  pledges  to  the  people  were  redeemed 
dispelled  all  hope  of  an  early  adjournment,  and  Mem- 
bers of  both  Houses  saw  another  busy  summer  ahead  of 
them,  because  the  legislative  mill  was  grinding  too  slowly 
for  any  large  results  at  an  early  date. 

The  Administration's  program  was  finally  worked 
out  in  the  House  and  embodied  in  three  bills:  (1)  a 
bill  creating  an  Interstate  Trade  Commission,  (2)  the 
Clayton  Omnibus  bill,  and  (3)  the  Railway  Capitaliza- 
tion bill.  These  measures  progressed  so  well  in  the 
House  that  b}^  May  18  the  debate  began,  and  within  less 
than  three  weeks  (June  5)  they  passed  the  House  and 
were  carried  to  the  Senate,  where  the  great  fight  was 
scheduled.  Here  again  they  had  to  run  the  gauntlet 
of  the  committee  rooms  of  the  Senate.  Every  new  fea- 
ture added  to  them  was  a  challenge  to  innumerable  de- 
bates, and  every  elimination  was  a  warning  that  in  the 
end  the  bill  itself  might  find  a  similar  fate.  There 
seemed  to  be  an  irreconcilable  difference  between  the 
attitude  of  organized  labor  and  organized  capital  over 
the  bills,  and  the  arguments  that  followed  only  served 
to  show  how  far  away  the  end  was. 

The  Mexican  trouble  had  reached  an  acute  stage;  the 
Panama  tolls  controversy  was  at  a  critical  moment ;  and 
pressure  was  again  brought  to  bear  on  the  Administra- 
tion to  abandon  the  trust  bills.   Then  during  the  month 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  143 

of  June,  it  appeared  that  the  pressure  was  being  felt, 
and  it  was  freely  talked  that  President  Wilson  had 
agreed  to  an  adjournment  in  July.  That  left  only 
about  a  month  to  complete  the  trust  bills  and  transact 
all  the  other  important  business  necessary ;  and  the  pre- 
diction was  openly  made  that  Congress  would  adjourn 
without  passing  the  Administration  measures. 

Senators  and  Members  faced  another  summer.  Thev 
remembered  only  too  well  the  mastery  that  the  President 
had  exercised  over  Congress  the  summer  before — how 
he  had  held  that  body  together  in  spite  of  the  tremen- 
dous opposition  to  the  tariff  and  the  currency  bills,  and 
in  spite  of  the  desire  on  the  part  even  of  many  friends  of 
the  measure  to  escape  the  intense  heat  of  the  capital. 

They  had  been  in  session  over  twelve  months.  The 
young  administration  had  now  reached  its  second  sum- 
mer with  a  constitution  strong  enough  to  make  the  last 
and  really  the  worst  stage  of  the  journey.  But  again 
many  felt  that  the  country  would  be  best  served  by  an 
adjournment  until  after  "dog  days." 

However,  the  desperate  opponents  of  the  bill  learned 
with  much  chagrin  that  President  Wilson  had  no  inten- 
tion to  postpone  action.  He  was  inexorable,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  Congress  was  tired  and  a  new 
election  was  approaching. 

The  opposition  then  resorted  to  its  old  tactics.  It  began 
a  campaign  to  bring  great  pressure  to  bear  on  Congress 
from  the  people  "back  home''  and  thus  to  frighten  the 


144  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Members  away  from  the  measure.  Letters  were  sent 
out  asking  every  business  man  receiving  them  ''to  write 
letters  of  a  similar  character  to  the  President,  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  United  States  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives from  your  state."  When  these  letters  were 
made  public,  they  created  almost  as  great  a  sensation 
as  did  the  ''Insidious  Lobby"  the  year  before.  Such  let- 
ters, the  President  suggested,  showed  the  process  by 
which  the  present  psychological  depression  had  been  arti- 
ficially created. 

In  the  midst  of  this  excitement  he  sent  for  the  Demo- 
cratic Steering  Committee  of  the  Senate,  reiterated  his 
belief  that  actual  business  conditions  were  normal  and 
improving,  and  asserted  with  emphasis  that  all  the  in- 
fluence he  possessed  would  be  exerted  against  the 
adjournment  of  Congress  without  the  completion  of  its 
anti-trust  program.  He  declared,  furthermore,  that  the 
most  unsettling  thing  that  could  happen  to  business 
would  be  to  be  left  for  six  or  eight  months  longer  in 
uncertainty  as  to  what  form  the  promised  anti-trust  leg- 
islation would  take,  and  he  insisted  with  a  show  of  impa- 
tience that  business  ought  to  be  more  interested  in  ending 
the  fight  than  in  postponing  it. 

It  seemed  to  be  quite  evident,  however,  that  Congress, 
if  left  to  itself,  would  adjourn  within  a  few  weeks.  Dem- 
ocratic leaders  were  asserting  that  an  adjournment  would 
be  reached  anyway  by  August  1,  although  it  was  admitted 
that  Mr.  Wilson  still  had  sufficient  authority  to  hold 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  145 

Congress  to  its  work  all  summer,  if  he  so  desired.  A 
proposition  was  made  that  had  considerable  backing  to 
adjourn  Congress  on  August  1,  with  the  understanding 
that  it  was  to  be  summoned  in  extra  session  directly  after 
the  November  election.  The  idea  was  that  all  the  left- 
over bills,  including  the  anti-trust  bills,  could  be  acted 
upon  before  January.  But  again  the  President  was  re- 
ported to  be  in  an  "umdelding  mood." 

He  had  declared  that  business  depression  was  due  more 
to  psychological  causes  than  actual  unsoundness.  How- 
ever, the  press  of  the  country  retorted  by  asserting  that 
thirteen  important  railroads  were  in  the  hands  of  re- 
ceivers, with  three  others  on  the  verge  of  receiverships. 
IMoreover,  the  financial  records  showed  that  more  than 
forty  large  corporations  passed  their  dividends  that  year, 
and  it  was  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  mercantile  loans 
from  country  banks.  While  this  discussion  was  rife,  the 
H.  B.  Claflin  Company  of  New  York  failed.  This  was 
the  greatest  bankruptcy  in  the  history  of  the  American 
dry  goods  business,  since  it  controlled  twenty-seven  de- 
partment retail  stores  and  was  associated  with  ten  more. 
These  facts  were  used  with  much  force  throughout  the 
country  to  convince  the  ]Members  of  the  House  and  Sen- 
ate that  the  Administration  anti-trust  bills  should  not 
be  passed  at  a  time  when  business  was  so  depressed. 
However,  if  there  was  any  large  number  of  people  who 
believed  that  a  cry  of  hard  times,  or  overworked  Con- 
gressmen, or  approaching  defeat  at  the  November  elee- 


146  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

tions,  or  even  serious  business  depression  would  move 
Mr.  Wilson  from  his  position,  they  were  sadly  disap- 
pointed. He  was  immovable  in  his  conviction  that  the 
greater  the  depression,  the  more  urgent  was  the  demand 
for  legislative  action — a  view-point  that  many  business 
men  could  not  understand. 

On  June  25,  while  the  Claflin  failure  was  being  dis- 
cussed in  every  city  in  America,  President  Wilson  ad- 
dressed a  delegation  of  Virginia  editors,  and  he  took  the 
occasion  to  make  his  position  clear  to  the  whole  country. 

*^I  think  it  is  appropriate/*  he  said,  *4n  receiv- 
ing you,  to  say  just  a  word  or  two  in  assistance 
of  your  judgment  about  the  existing  conditions. 
You  are  largely  responsible  for  the  state  of 
public  opinion.  You  furnish  the  public  with 
information  and  in  your  editorials  you  furnish 
it  with  the  interpretation  of  that  information. 

^'AVe  are  in  the  presence  of  a  business  situa- 
tion which  is  variously  interpreted.  Here  in 
Washington,  through  the  Bureau  of  Commerce 
and  other  instrumentalities  that  are  at  our  dis- 
posal and  through  a  correspondence  which  comes 
to  us  from  all  parts  of  the  nation,  we  are  per- 
haps in  a  position  to  judge  of  the  actual  condi- 
tions of  business  better  than  those  can  judge 
who  are  at  any  other  single  point  in  the  country; 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MOXOPOLY  147 

and  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  as  a  matter  of  fact 
the  signs  of  a  very  strong  business  revival  are 
becoming  more  and  more  evident  from  day  to 
day.'' 

Then,  for  a  while,  he  spoke  of  the  panicky  feeling  and 
the  fears  and  criticisms  that  had  come  from  business 
men.    But  he  declared: 

^*  There  is  nothing  more  fatal  to  business  than 
to  be  kept  guessing  from  month  to  month  and 
from  year  to  year  whether  something  serious  is 
going  to  happen  to  it  or  not,  and  what  in  par- 
ticular is  going  to  happen  to  it,  if  anything  does. 
It  is  impossible  to  forecast  the  prospects  of  any 
line  of  business  unless  you  know  what  the  year 
is  going  to  bring  forth.  Nothing  is  more  unfair, 
nothing  has  been  declared  by  business  men  to  be 
more  harmful,  than  to  keep  them  guessing.'' 

He  was  constantly  trying  to  impress  this  fact  upon 
the  people  and  even  upon  the  business  men  themselves. 
But  it  was  very  apparent  that  they  preferred  a  prof- 
itable uncertainty  such  as  the  past  had  been  to  many. 
Mr.  Wilson  then  reviewed  the  history  of  this  depression, 
going  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  tariff  agitation  and 
coming  on  down  through  the  stubborn  fight  for  currency 
reforms. 


148  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

^^Then  we  advanced  to  the  trust  program,*' 
he  said,  ^'and  again  the  same  dread,  the  same 
hesitation,  the  same  urgency  that  the  thing  should 
be  postponed.  It  will  not  be  postponed,  and  it 
will  not  be  postponed  because  we  are  the  friends 
of  business.  We  know  what  we  are  doing.  We 
purpose  to  do  it  under  the  advice — for  we  have 
been  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  the  advice — of 
men  who  understand  the  business  of  the  country, 
and  we  know  that  the  effect  is  going  to  be  ex- 
actly what  the  effect  of  the  currency  reform  was, 
a  sense  of  relief  and  of  security. 

^^  Because  when  the  program  is  finished,  it 
is  finished;  the  interrogation  points  are  rubbed 
off  the  plate,  business  is  given  its  constitution  of 
freedom  and  is  bidden  to  go  forward  under  that 
constitution.  And  just  so  soon  as  it  gets  that 
leave  and  freedom  there  will  be  a  boom  of  busi- 
ness in  this  country  such  as  we  have  never  wit- 
nessed in  the  United  States. 

^^I,  as  a  friend  of  business  and  a  servant  of 
the  country,  would  not  dare  stop  in  this  pro- 
gram and  bring  on  another  long  period  of  agita- 
tion. Agitation  longer  continued  would  be  fatal 
to  the  business  of  this  country,  and  if  this  pro- 
gram   is    delayed,    there    will    come    agitation. 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  149 

with  every  letter  in  the  word  a  capital  letter. 
The  choice  is  a  sober  and  sensible  program, 
now  completed,  or  months  upon  months  of  addi- 
tional conjecture  and  danger. 

^'I  for  one  could  not  ask  the  country  to  excuse 
a  policy  which  subjected  business  to  longer  con- 
tinued agitation  and  uncertainty;  and,  therefore, 
I  am  sure  that  it  is  beginning  to  be  evident  to 
the  whole  press  of  this  country,  and  by  the  same 
token,  to  the  people,  that  a  conservative  pro- 
gram is  at  last  not  only  to  be  imposed,  but 
completed,  and  that  when  it  is  completed,  busi- 
ness can  get — and  will  get  Avhat  it  can  get  in 
no  other  way — rest,  recuperation,  and  successful 
adjustment.  I  cannot  get  rest  if  you  send  me 
to  bed  wondering  what  is  going  to  happen  to  me 
in  the  morning;  but  if  you  send  me  to  bed  know- 
ing what  the  course  of  business  is  to  be  tomorrow 
morning,  I  can  rest.  How  much  better  is  certain 
justice  to  the  men  engaged  in  business. 

''It  is  a  matter  of  conscience,  as  well  as  a  mat- 
ter of  large  public  policy,  to  do  what  this  Con- 
gress, I  am  now  certain,  is  going  to  do — finish 
the  program.  And  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  going 
to  take  a  very  long  time.  I  believed  that  the 
temper  of  those  engaged  in  this  great  thing  is 


150  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

admirable,  that  the  various  elements  sometimes 
in  antagonism  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  are  growing  together  and  that  we  shall 
witness  an  early  statesmanlike  result  from  which 
we  shall  all  have  abundant  reason  to  be 
thankful. ' ' 

Mr.  Wilson's  faith  in  the  final  outcome  strengthened 
the  working  force  in  Congress.  His  determination  not 
to  postpone  action  gave  impetus  to  its  Members,  and  his 
open  and  unqualified  assurance,  constantly  repeated, 
that  "we  are  the  friends  of  business,"  that  ''we  have 
been  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  the  advice  of  men  who 
understand  the  business  of  the  country, ' '  gave  them  more 
confidence  in  the  final  outcome  of  the  fight  and  strength- 
ened the  Administration  both  in  Congress  and  in  the 
nation. 

''It  will  not  be  postponed!"  And  the  Senate  Dem- 
ocrats in  caucus  agreed  July  1  to  remain  in  session  until 
the  trust  bills  were  disposed  of.  Mr.  Wilson  had  about 
convinced  the  leaders  of  the  country,  too,  that  instead 
of  tearing  up  or  destroying  business,  the  trust  bills  were 
the  remedies  for  many  evils  that  modern  business  was 
heir  to,  and  he  was  determined  to  end  the  war  on  busi- 
ness. He  took  every  occasion  to  stress  this  point.  Cer- 
tain bankers  were  opposed  to  the  currency  laws  when 
these  laws  were  for  their  benefit,  and  now  the  trust 
measures  were  being  vigorously  opposed  although  they 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  15J[ 

were  for  the  benefit  of  the  large  corporations  as  well  as 
of  the  people.  But  Big  Business  was  so  accustomed  to 
see  legislation  initiated  that  was  hostile  to  it,  that  it 
could  not  understand  legislation  that  was  really  for  the 
benefit  of  all  legitimate  business.  It  was  afraid  of  the 
Greeks  bearing  gifts. 

Senate  committees  were  working  away  on  the  three 
bills.  Public  hearings  brought  advice  and  hostile  crit- 
icism from  every  state  in  the  Union.  The  President  was 
now  resorting  to  his  favorite  tactics  again.  He,  as  well 
as  the  Senate  committees,  was  consulting  the  leading  busi- 
ness men  of  the  nation.  Bankers  from  New  York,  man- 
ufacturers from  the  Northwest,  and  business  men  of  the 
West  and  South  were  consulted.  He  was  using  all  the 
brains  that  he  could  borrow.  Soon  the  report  went  out 
to  the  world  that  these  prominent  business  men  were, 
after  all,  not  much  opposed  to  the  measures,  but  that 
they  did  express  their  opposition  to  certain  objectionable 
features.  These  conferences  were  bringing  a  better  un- 
derstanding between  the  Administration  and  the  entire 
business  world. 

When  Congress  first  met  to  consider  revising  the  tar- 
iff, Mr.  Wilson  held  counsel  chiefly  with  trusted  mem- 
bers of  his  own  party.  Protectionists  he  did  not  care 
to  talk  with,  and  it  is  said  that  when  men  of  prominence 
called  on  him,  if  they  were  known  to  be  monopolists  or 
advocates  of  monopoly,  he  admitted  them  to  his  pres- 
ence, ''but  without  enthusiasm  and  only  after  seeing  to 


152  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

it  that  the  door  should  be  left  ajar  to  guarantee  the  piti- 
lessness  of  requisite  publicity." 

However,  as  he  became  more  and  more  acquainted  with 
the  country,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of  public  enthusiasm, 
his  coldness  and  seclusion  changed  somewhat  toward  this 
class  of  citizens,  and  now  that  masters  of  business  were 
directly  concerned  in  the  outcome  of  this  last  stage  of 
the  journey  that  the  nation  was  taking,  he  very  cordially 
admitted  them  into  his  counsel  and  sought  their  advice. 

In  the  midst  of  these  consultations  he  sent  in  his  nom- 
inations for  membership  on  the  Federal  Reserve  Board. 
The  new  currency  law  was  about  to  be  put  into  opera- 
tion, and  he  showed  his  confidence  in  the  integrity  of 
the  masters  of  finance  by  appointing  on  this  board  Mr. 
Paul  M.  Warburg,  a  partner  in  the  great  banking  house 
of  Kiihn,  Loeb  and  Company,  and  Mr.  Thomas  D.  Jones, 
a  director  of  the  Harvester  Company. 

These  appointments  aroused  much  opposition  to  the 
President  in  the  Senate,  w^iere  the  anti-trust  bills  were 
still  pending.  And  they  were  referred  to  as  "the  most 
striking  evidence  of  the  President's  change  of  mind" 
toward  business  and  business  men.  The  greatest  oppo- 
sition developed  against  Mr.  Jones  because  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  Harvester  Company,  whose  methods 
the  government  was  then  investigating,  although  Mr. 
Jones  held  only  one  share  of  stock  in  the  company. 

The  country  seemed  to  be  receiving  the  wrong  impres- 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  153 

siou  concerning  these  men.    Therefore,  Mr.  Wilson  made 
the  following  declaration: 

**It  would  be  particularly  unfair  to  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  and  the  Senate  itself  to  regard  it  as 
the  enemy  of  business,  big  or  little.  I  am  sure 
that  it  does  not  regard  a  man  as  an  object  of 
suspicion  merely  because  he  has  been  connected 
with  great  business  enterprises.  It  knows  that 
the  business  of  the  country  has  been  chiefly  pro- 
moted in  recent  years  by  enterprises  organized 
on  a  great  scale  and  that  the  vast  majority  of 
the  men  connected  with  what  w^e  have  come  to 
call  'big  business'  are  honest,  incorruptible  and 
patriotic.  The  country  may  be  certain  that  it 
is  clear  to  members  of  the  Senate,  as  it  is  clear 
to  all  thoughtful  men,  that  those  who  have  tried 
to  make  ^hig  business'  what  it  ought  to  be  are 
the  men  to  be  encouraged  and  honored,  whenever 
they  respond  without  reserve  to  the  call  of  pub- 
lic service. 

''I  predict  with  the  greatest  confidence  that 
nothing  done  by  the  Democratic  majority  of  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  will  be  of  a  sort  to 
throw  suspicion  upon  such  men.  Mr.  Jones  and 
Mr.   Warburg,   in   manifesting   their   willingness 


154  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

to  make  personal  sacrifices  and  put  their  great 
experience  and  ability  at  the  service  of  the  gov- 
ernment, without  thought  of  personal  advantage, 
in  the  organization  of  a  great  reform  which 
promises  to  be  so  serviceable  to  the  nation,  are 
setting  an  example  of  patriotism  and  public  spirit 
which  the  whole  country  admires. 

*^It  is  the  obvious  business  of  statesmanship 
at  this  turning  point  in  our  development  to  rec- 
ognize ability  and  character  whenever  it  has 
been  displayed  and  unite  every  force  for  the  up- 
building of  legitimate  business  along  the  new 
lines  which  are  now  clearly  indicated  for  the 
future. '  ^ 

Mr.  Warburg  was  accepted  but  Mr.  Jones  was  rejected. 

For  more  than  a  year  the  Administration  had  been 
directing  its  force  against  the'  methods  of  o^-ganized  busi- 
ness. During  that  entire  time  business  was  very  unre- 
sponsive, notwithstanding  the  tremendous  resources  of 
the  countr3^  The  President  insisted  that  no  just  reason 
existed  for  this  depression.  But  it  was  a  fact  that  busi- 
ness had  lost  its  old-time  buoyancy.  The  old  emotions 
would  not  respond,  doubtless,  because  the  old  stimulus 
had  led  to  many  unjust  acts  which  were  at  this  time  the 
object  of  executive  inquiry  and  legislative  control.  Pres- 
ident Wilson  had  asserted  so  vigorously  that  the  cause 


THE  DE8TIICCTI0N  OF  MONOPOLY  155 

of  the  depression  was  mainly  psychological  that  even 
business  was  about  to  believe  it. 

However,  during  this  same  period  there  was  going 
on  in  Europe  an  adjustment  of  the  finances  owing  to  the 
Balkan  War  and  other  disturbing  causes.  Moreover,  in 
America,  the  Mexican  War  and  the  possibilities  of  serious 
international  complications  were  affecting  trade  and  dis- 
turbing the  money  markets.  And  at  this  time,  when  the 
Senate  was  seriously  considering  the  question  of  ad- 
journing and  leaving  the  trust  bills  until  a  later  session, 
the  nations  of  Europe  were  still  under  the  dread  of  fur- 
ther complications  from  the  Balkan  War,  and  they  seemed 
to  feel  the  hot  breath  of  the  approaching  war  god.  All 
these  extraordinary  conditions  had  tremendous  effect 
on  business.  Actual  business  conditions  were  sound,  but 
the  dread  of  what  might  happen  tomorrow  made  busi- 
ness as  inactive  as  the  life  of  trade  would  permit.  There- 
fore, while  tlie  business  men  were  engaged,  and  very 
seriously  engaged,  in  studying  these  larger  continental 
and  world  possibilities,  they  were  pestered  by  the 
thought  of  what  a  Democratic  Congress  might  do.  It 
was  irritating  them  to  the  limit  of  endurance. 

Mr.  Wilson,  however,  had  contended  from  the  first 
that  if  the  business  of  the  country  would  understand  the 
motives  of  the  Administration  in  its  so-called  attack  on 
business,  all  fears  would  be  removed.  The  program 
did  not  contemplate  a  disturbance  of  business,  but  its 
great  purpose  was  to  set  business  free,  and  now  (June  8, 


156  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

1914),  fifteen  months  after  the  first  step  was  begun, 
President  Woodrow  Wilson,  having  about  completed  the 
three  great  steps  of  his  New  Freedom,  was  appealing 
to  the  Senate,  ''that  those  who  have  tried  to  make  'big 
business'  what  it  ought  to  be  are  the  men  to  be  encour- 
aged and  honored  whenever  they  respond  without  reserve 
to  the  call  of  public  service."  There  was  still  a  severe 
fight  ahead  before  the  trust  bills  would  be  at  all  assured. 
But  soon  they,  like  the  currency  bill,  began  to  lose  much 
of  their  partisan  characteristics.  The  .nation's  artists 
were  seriously  and  industriously  carving  out  the  third 
great  masterpiece. 

It  was  not  until  the  last  of  July  that  the  debate  on 
the  trust  bills  began  in  the  Senate,  and  it  had  progressed 
only  a  few  days  when  humanity's  worst  fears  were  real- 
ized— the  great  European  war  burst  upon  the  world. 
However,  the  great  fight  on  the  Administration's  pvo- 
gram  was  about  over.  On  August  5,  four  days  after 
the  beginning  of  the  great  war,  the  Senate  passed  the 
bill  creating  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  by  a  largQ 
majority — 56  to  16.  The  Clayton  Omnibus  bill  was 
delayed  for  nearly  another  month,  but  on  September  2 
it  also  passed  the  Senate  by  a  large  majority.  The  Sen- 
ate had  made  several  important  amendments  to  both 
bills,  and  it  was  not  until  September  10  that  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  was  finally  enacted  into  law,  and  on 
October  5  the  Clayton  Omnibus  bill  became  a  law.  Thus 
ended  the  long  fight.    The  European  war  was  creating 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  157 

new  issues,  and  Congress  was  unable  to  adjourn  until 
certain  temporary  war  measures  were  enacted.  Then,  on 
October  24,  the  long  Congress  came  to  a  close,  after 
having  been  continuously  at  work  for  567  days — the 
longest  period  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

The  House  sent  over  to  the  Senate  three  trust  bills. 
But  only  two  finally  became  laws.  The  Railway  Cap- 
italization bill  was  lost  in  the  Senate.  However,  the 
other  two  laws — the  Federal  Trade  Commission  and  the 
Clayton  Omnibus  Anti-trust  act — included  the  larger 
part  of  the  President's  programme. 

The  Trade  Commission  Act  establishes  a  Federal 
Trade  Commission  similar  to  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  with  the  following  duties  and  powers : 

1.  It  transfers  to  this  Commission  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  Bureau  of  Corporations  and  increases  these 
duties  in  relation  to  the  investigation  of  the  affairs  of 
corporations  and  of  business  methods  and  practices  in 
general  and  in  particular. 

2.  It  is  empowered  to  prevent  unfair  competition  and 
to  investigate,  upon  application  of  the  Attorney-General, 
and  to  make  recommendations  for  the  readjustment  of 
the  business  of  any  corporation  alleged  to  be  violating 
the  Anti-trust  act,  in  order  that  it  may  thereafter  con- 
duct its  business  in  accordance  with  law. 

3.  It  is  authorized  to  classify  corporations  and  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  enforcement  of  the  act, 

4.  It  is  charged  with  the  dutv  to  investigate  trade 


158  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

conditions  in  and  with  foreign  countries,  where  associa- 
tions, combinations,  or  practices  of  manufacturers  may 
affect  our  foreign  trade,  and  to  report  thereon  to 
Congress. 

5.  It  makes  the  Commission  an  accessory  to  the 
courts  for  the  preparation  and  execution  of  their  decrees 
in  anti-trust  cases. 

The  Clayton  Anti-Trust  Act  is  an  omnibus  measure, 
combining  various  provisions  for  curbing  trust  activ- 
ities. Its  purpose  is  to  complete  the  destruction  of 
existing  monopoly  and  to  prevent  the  birth  of  further 
monopoly.     Its  specifications  are  as  follows: 

1.  Price  discriminations  and  tying-contracts  are  made 
unlawful  when  they  substantially  lessen  competition. 

2.  It  forbids  the  existence  of  holding  companies  when 
they  restrain  commerce  or  tend  to  establish  monopoly. 

3.  Interlocking  directorates  among  banks  with  re- 
sources of  more  than  $5,000,000  must  cease  after  two 
vears. 

4.  It  provides  that  no  one  shall  be  an  officer  or  direc- 
tor of  more  than  one  bank,  and  no  person  shall  be  a 
director  in  two  or  more  large  corporations  if  the  corpo- 
rations are  competitors. 

5.  It  provides  that  in  case  of  private  damage  suits 
under  the  anti-trust  laws,  the  decree  in  any  government 
suit  against  the  same  defendant  shall  constitute  prima 
facie  evidence  for  the  purposes  of  the  private  suits. 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MONOPOLY  i^^ 

A  comparison  of  these  specifications  with  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  President  in  his  address  to  Congress 
on  January  20  will  show  how  completely  his  recommenda- 
tions were  finally  embodied  into  law. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  END  OF  THE  OLD  REGIME 

President  Wilson  outlined  in  his  inaugural  address 
with  some  degree  of  particularity  the  things  that  he  con- 
sidered ought  to  be  altered  in  order  that  every  process 
of  our  national  life  might  again  square  with  the  stand- 
ard ' '  we  so  proudly  set  up  at  the  beginning. ' '  But  after 
eighteen  months  of  hard  work — a  work  of  restoration, 
what  is  the  result? 

The  pressure  of  the  European  war  has  been  so  severe 
that  men's  minds  have  been  wrenched  violently  away 
from  those  days  when  the  President  and  Congress  were 
approaching  new  affairs  and  perfecting  the  means  by 
which  this  government  may  be  put  at  the  service  of 
humanity.  Therefore,  the  marvelous  achievements  in 
their  totality  have  drifted  out  of  men's  consciousness. 
Some  remember  that  period  because  of  one  act,  while 
others  because  of  a  wholly  different  act.  But  the  per- 
manent benefit  to  the  whole  country  will  have  to  be 
measured  later,  when  all  adjustments  have  been  com- 
pleted and  society,  as  a  whole,  responds  to  this  new 
safeguarding  of  property  and  individual  rights.  Not 
until  then  can  the  historian   adequately   appraise   the 

benefits  to  this  nation.     But  what  changes  were  made 

160 


THE  END  OF  THE  OLD  REGIME  1(31 

in  the  functions  of  government  that  made  the  first  half 
of  Wilson's  administration  the  end  of  an  era? 

The  country  at  large  believed  that  the  old  protective 
tariff  in  operation  for  so  many  years  violated  the  just 
principles  of  taxation  and  cut  the  country  off  from  its 
proper  part  in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  A  new  tariff 
law,  therefore,  was  enacted  in  which  neither  lobby  nor 
special  interests  had  a  hand  in  the  making,  but  in  which 
the  people  of  the  United  States — laborers  as  well  as 
manufacturers — have  a  fair  opportunity  to  judge 
whether  such  a  measure  that  has  been  an  issue  for  a 
century  is  a  panacea  for  industrial  evils  in  this  modern 
business  age.  Moreover,  an  income  tax  law  was  coupled 
with  this  new  tariff  law  in  order  to  meet  the  expected 
deficiency  in  the  revenue  and  throw  more  of  the  burden 
of  support  upon  great  wealth  rather  than  upon  labor. 

In  the  place  of  the  old  laissez  faire  doctrine  of  indi- 
vidual license,  that  had  resulted  in  a  comparatively  few 
men,  more  powerful  than  the  rest,  gaining  control  of 
the  processes  of  government  and  the  industrial  life  of 
the  people,  a  government  by  commission  was  inaugurated. 
Commissions  were  clothed  with  authority  to  exercise  "a 
watchful  interference"  over  the  selfish  designs  of  men 
and  protect  the  liberties  of  the  people  by  preserving  free 
and  fair  competition  in  this  industrial  age.  This  change 
in  the  processes  of  government  is  perhaps  the  most  far- 
reaching  in  its  consequences  of  any  legislation  since  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


162  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

The  currency  of  the  country  was  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  self-appointed  trustees  of  the  nation  and  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  government  commission,  the  Federal 
Reserve  Board.  By  this  act  the  money-changers  were 
driven  from  the  temple  of  the  nation  and  the  currency 
of  the  country  will  henceforth  flow  in  the  interest  of  the 
little  banker  as  well  as  the  powerful  money  baron,  in 
the  interest  of  the  laborer  as  well  as  the  captain  of  in- 
dustry. The  nation  applauded  this  act  and  proclaimed 
abroad  that  ''The  Federal  Reserve  Law  is  enough  to 
make  any  administration  illustrious  in  history." 

Great  corporations  were  also  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
commission — the  Federal  Trade  Commission.  No  longer 
would  the  captains  of  industry  and  finance  be  permitted 
to  sit  "at  the  levers  of  control"  and  make  or  mar  at 
will  the  fortunes  of  friendly  or  rival  concerns.  The 
watchful  interference  of  this  commission  was  designed 
to  permit  young  industries  to  develop  without  fear  of 
the  great  corporations.  Moreover,  it  was  designed  to 
direct  the  great  as  well  as  the  small  into  safer  channels 
where  designing  politicians  and  unscrupulous  lawy^ers, 
who  once  fattened  on  the  old  Sherman  Anti-trust  law 
and  kept  business  panicky,  would  be  deprived  of  an 
unholy  instrument. 

The  powers  and  duties  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  were  increased.  This  was  the  first  of  the 
commissions  to  be  established  and  it  served  as  a  model 
for  guidance  in  creating  the  other  two.     It  was  now 


THE  END  OF  THE  OLD  REGIME        163 

empowered  to  exercise  a  certain  control  over  the  bnsi- 
ness  transactions  of  railroads  and  other  common  carriers 
where   free   and   fair   competition   might   be   interfered 

with. 

Through  these  commissions — the  Federal  Reserve 
Board,  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  and  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission — the  large  fields  of  business, 
finance  and  industry  were  brought  under  governmental 
control.  This  work  of  restoration  that  President  Wilson 
outlined  at  the  beginning  of  his  administration  was  now 
completed  and  the  nation's  Constitution  of  Peace  was 
written. 

However,  there  were  still  other  things  necessary  to  be 
done.  But  they  pertained  especially  to  the  conservation 
and  development  of  our  national  resources  for  the 
benefit  of  the  whole  people.  President  Wilson  declared 
that  Congress  should  address  itself  to  this  new  problem 
with  the  same  vigor  that  it  employed  in  inaugurating  a 
new  government  by  commission.  Nor  did  the  administra- 
tion wait.  The  President  called  the  nation's  attention 
to  the  fact  that  our  agricultural  activities  had  never 
been  given  the  efficiency  of  great  business  undertakings ; 
nor  had  they  served  the  people  as  they  should  through 
the  instrumentalities  of  science  taken  directly  to  the 
farm,  or  afforded  the  facilities  of  credit  best  suited  to 
their  practical  needs. 

The  Smith-Lever  Agricultural  Extension  Act  came  as 
a  result  of  this  great  demand.     It  was  passed  March  8, 


164  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

1914,  appropriating  about  half  a  million  dollars  for  im- 
mediate use  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the 
colleges  of  the  several  states.  However,  the  Act  con- 
templates a  gradual  increase  until  the  annual  appropria- 
tion amounts  to  several  million  dollars. 

The  mineral  resources  of  Alaska  were  locked  up  in  the 
Arctic  Circle  and  were  available  only  to  corporations  of 
great  wealth.  But  in  order  that  they  might  be  employed 
by  the  nation  as  a  whole.  Congress  authorized  the  Presi- 
dent to  begin  the  construction  of  a  thousand  miles  of 
trunk-line  railway  to  connect  the  ports  on  the  Pacific 
with  the  coal  fields  of  the  interior,  and  thus  make  avail- 
able for  national  use  the  almost  unlimited  coal  of  Alaska. 

Other  measures  of  conservation  were  begun,  such  as 
the  protection  of  forests  and  waterpower  and  mineral 
deposits.  Moreover,  movements  looking  to  the  conserva- 
tion of  health  and  the  encouragement  of  good  roads  and 
rural  credits  were  begun.  Then  the  European  War 
appeared. 

Just  at  this  time  the  American  people  were  passing 
out  of  an  old  era  into  a  new  national  life  made  possible 
by  this  Constitution  of  Peace.  What  the  future  would 
be  was  predicted  with  an  assurance  that  brought  hope 
to  the  souls  of  men  who  had  suffered  because  of  injustices 
in  the  nation.  But  as  the  transfer  was  about  to  be  made, 
the  European  war  closed  up  the  past  and  gave  a  new 
era  not   only   to   America,   but'  to   the  entire   civilized 


THE  END  OF  THE  OLD  REGIME        165 

world.      Therefore,    what   the    future   will   be   even   to 
America  no  man  can  prophesy  with  certainty. 

The  great  issues,  therefore,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
AVilson  Administration  instead  of  pertaining  largely  to 
matters  of  strictly  domestic  concern,  such  as  conserva- 
tion of  public  health  and  national  resources,  relate  to 
the  European  war  and  we  have  neutrality,  American 
rights  on  the  high  seas,  preparedness,  merchant  marine, 
and   commercial  and   educational   preparedness   as   the 

paramount  issues. 

Before  approaching  these  new  issues,  however,  it  is 
necessary  to  take  a  survey  of  President  Wilson 's  foreign 
policy  during  this  period  when  the  Constitution  of  Peace 
was  being  wrought  out. 


CHAPTER  Vlll 

A  NEW  FOREIGN  POLICY 

On  March  4,  1913,  when  Woodrow  Wilson  took  the 
oath  of  office  as  President  of  the  United  States,  two  grave 
responsibilities  were  laid  upon  his  administration:  (1) 
To  set  up  the  rule  of  right  and  justice  in  this  nation; 
and  (2)  to  maintain  a  just  relation  to  all  foreign  nations. 

In  the  previous  chapters  we  have  seen  how  heroically 
he  undertook  the  first  task  and  with  what  success  he 
inaugurated  a  set  of  reforms  that  were  to  affect  the  whole 
country.  The  second  task,  however,  was  not  so  simple, 
and  the  reason  is  obvious.  In  the  first  place,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  in  dealing  with  foreign  nations, 
must  be  guided  by  what  foreigners  and  strangers  to  our 
ideals  may  do;  and  in  the  second  place,  international 
problems  are  not  solved,  as  a  rule,  with  that  same  regard 
for  absolute  right  and  justice  as  are  domestic  problems. 
Moreover,  in  dealing  with  intranational  questions,  the 
responsibility  for  the  solution  may  be  placed  in  a  large 
measure  upon  Congress  and  the  people.  But  in  dealing 
with  international  questions,  the  responsibility  for  solu- 
tion is  placed  almost  entirely  upon  the  President  of  the 

United  States. 

166 


A  NEW  FOREIGN  POLICY  167 

Perhaps  the  greatest  difficulty  to  overcome  in  handling 
all  international  questions,  is  in  securing  a  just  rule  of 
conduct  that  will  be  acceptable  to  the  people  who  have 
little  voice  in  establishing  the  rule  and  whose  notions  of 
how  foreign  affairs  should  be  conducted  are  usually 
exceedingly  selfish. 

National  ideals  with  reference  solely  to  domestic 
policies  may  be  one  thing ;  but  with  reference  to  foreign 
affairs,  quite  another  thing.  It  is  often  the  case,  if  not 
the  rule,  that  the  two  are  as  different  as  right  and  wrong. 
The  functions  of  government  operating  intrastate  may 
be  guided  by  the  eternal  principles  of  right  and  justice 
as  expressed  in  the  Golden  Rule ;  but  operating  inter- 
nationally, may  be  controlled  by  a  selfishness  and  a  greed 
that  would  be  considered  both  immoral  and  even  criminal, 
if  the  acts  were  those  of  a  private  citizen.  Admiral 
Decatur's  familiar  toast — ''Our  Country!  In  her  inter- 
course with  Foreign  Nations,  may  she  always  be  in  the 
right;  but  our  Country,  right  or  wrong" — is  a  fine 
expression  of  patriotism  and  a  guarantee  of  national 
solidarity.  However,  the  sentiment  is  merely  a  refine- 
ment of  that  primitive  tribal  religion  which  nationalized 
the  deity,  made  polytheism  a  necessity  and  limited  the 
rule  of  right  and  justice  to  tribal  or  national  boundaries ; 
hence  the  sword  as  the  final  arbitrament  of  international 
disputes. 

Nations  have  made  more  progress  in  placing  the  rule 
of  right  above  the  power  of  might  in  domestic  or  national 


168  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

affairs  than  in  international  affairs.  Therefore,  the 
greatest  problem  of  the  statesman  is  to  make  international 
questions  square  by  the  same  ethical  standards  that 
national  questions  are  measured  b3^  But  as  long  as  the 
difference  between  the  two  ideals  is  so  great,  civilization 
will  be  retarded  by  international  jealousies  and  destruc- 
tive wars. 

When  President  Wilson  was  inaugurated  he  was  at 
once  confronted  with  certain  very  perplexing  foreign 
problems:  (1)  A  revolution  in  Mexico;  (2)  The  rela- 
tion of  this  government  to  Latin  American  Republics; 
and  (3)  The  attitude  of  the  European  nations  toward 
America  because  of  the  Panama  tolls  act  which  exempted 
American  coast-wise  vessels  from  the  payment  of  tolls 
in  passing  through  the  Panama  Canal. 

The  New  Executive  was  an  untried  man,  only  a 
political  philosopher,  and  not  only  the  people  of  America 
but  of  the  whole  civilized  world  were  asking  themselves 
this  question:  How  will  the  new  President  approach 
the  solution  of  these  problems? 

The  American  people  were  demanding  in  one  breath 
that  the  President  hold  the  balances  even  when  weighing 
matters  of  strictly  domestic  concern.  But  when  con- 
sidering international  questions,  the  vocal  part  of  the 
American  public  seemed  to  be  ready  to  heap  reproach 
upon  the  administration  if  the  balances  failed  to  dip  low 
on  the  American  side,  and  such  is  the  traditional  attitude 
of  the  human  race  to  international  disputes.,  No  executive 


A  NEW  FOrxEIGN  POLICY  Igg 

had  been  able  to  establish  a  precedent  the  justice  of 
which  was  convincing  to  all  nations  without  drawing 
upon  himself  the  censure  and  even  ridicule  of  a  large 
part  of  his  own  people.  Therefore,  nations  have  too 
often  resorted  to  might  rather  than  right  in  the  settle- 
ment of  international  disputes.  It  is  the  easier  mode, 
though  not  a  remedy. 

President  Wilson,  however,  announced  very  emphatic- 
ally at  the  beginning  of  his  administration  that  it  would 
be  his  policy  to  set  up  the  rule  of  right  and  justice  in  all 
international  questions.  This  was  a  departure.  A  new 
precedent  was  about  to  be  established.  Was  this  nation 
entering  a  new  era  in  diplomacy  ?    Men  were  wondering. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  PRESIDENT  BROADENS  THE  MEANING  OF 
THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

The  revolution  in  IMexieo  was  the  most  perplexing 
international  problem  that  confronted  the  new  adminis- 
tration. However,  it  had  to  be  solved  not  with  reference 
solely  to  Mexico  and  to  the  United  States,  but  with  refer- 
ence to  all  the  other  Latin  American  Republics.  There- 
fore, it  became  necessary  to  establish  first  a  new  Pan 
American  policy,  or,  in  other  words,  to  give  the  American 
people  a  broader  meaning  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

A  few  days  after  his  inauguration,  President  Wilson 
outlined  the  policies  that  should  guide  him  in  all  of  his 
relations  with  the  Latin  American  states,  including 
Mexico.  Each  state  was  assured  that  ''one  of  the  chief 
objects  of  my  administration  will  be  to  cultivate  the 
friendship  of  all  the  Latin  American  states,"  and  he 
declared,  "I  earnestly  desire  the  most  cordial  under- 
standing and  cooperation  between  the  people  and  the 
leaders  of  America."  He  then  made  this  brief  state- 
ment not  only  for  North  Americans,  but  for  Central  and 

South  Americans  to  read  and  ponder  over: 

170 


BKOADEXS  THE  MONHOE  DOCTKIXE       171 

^'Cooperation  is  possible  only  when  supported 
at  every  turn  by  the  orderly  processes  of  just 
government,  based  ujjon  law  and  not  upon  arbi- 
trary or  irregular  force.  We  hold,  as  I  am  sure 
all  thoughtful  leaders  of  republican  government 
elsewhere  hold,  that  just  government  rests  always 
upon  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  there 
can  be  no  freedom  without  order,  based  upon 
law  and  upon  public  conscience  and  approval. 
We  shall  look  to  make  these  principles  the  basis 
of  mutual  intercourse,  respect,  and  helpfulness 
between  our  sister  republics  and  ourselves. 

''We  shall  lend  our  influence  of  every  kind  to 
the  realization  of  these  principles  in  fact  and 
practice,  knowing  that  disorder,  personal  intrigue 
and  the  denial  of  constitutional  rights  weaken 
and  discredit  government  and  injure  none  so 
much  as  the  people  who  are  unfortunate  enough 
to  have  their  common  life  and  their  coimiion 
affairs  so  tainted  and  disturbed. 

"We  can  have  no  sympathy  with  those  who  seek 
to  seize  the  power  of  government  to  advance  their 
own  personal  interests  or  ambitions.  AVe  are  the 
friends  of  peace,  but  we  know  that  there  can  be  no 
lasting  or  stable  peace  in  such  circumstances.  As 
friends,  therefore,  we  shall  prefer  those  who  act  in 


172  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  interests  of  peace  and  honor,  who  protect 
private  rights  and  respect  the  restraints  of  con- 
stitutional provisions.  Mutual  respect  seems  to 
us  the  indispensable  foundation  of  friendship 
between  states  as  between  individuals. 

^^The  United  States  has  nothing  to  seek  in 
Central  and  South  America  except  the  lasting 
interests  of  the  peoples  of  the  two  continents,  the 
security  of  governments,  intended  for  the  people, 
and  for  no  special  groups  of  interests;  and  the 
development  of  personal  and  trade  relationships 
between  the  two  continents,  which  shall  redound 
to  the  advantage  and  profit  of  both  and  interfere 
in  the  liberties  of  neither. 

^  ^  From  these  principles  may  be  read  so  much  of 
the  future  policy  of  this  government  as  it  is 
necessary  now  to  forecast;  and  in  the  spirit  of 
these  principles,  I  may,  I  hope,  be  permitted  with 
as  much  confidence  as  earnestness  to  extend  to  the 
governments  of  all  the  republics  of  America  the 
hand  of  genuine  disinterested  friendship  and  to 
pledge  my  own  honor  and  the  honor  of  my  col- 
leagues to  every  enterprise  of  peace  and  amity 
that  a  fortunate  future  may  disclose.'' 

This  declaration  of  a  general  principle  was  very  favor- 
ably received  in  this  country.     In  fact,  few,  if  any,  of 


BROADEXS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  173 

our  public  men  have  been  so  fortunate  in  their  power 
to  generalize  and  state  convincingly  a  general  truth,  as 
President  Wilson.  Therefore,  the  press,  in  the  main, 
applauded  his  utterance,  but  predicted  that  the  Admin- 
istration would  find  serious  difficulty  in  making  the 
practical  application.  There  seemed  to  be  a  general 
impression  that  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  Latin  American 
Republics  would  be  incapable  of  understanding  the 
President's  meaning;  and,  it  was  feared  that  few  of 
them  would  pay  any  attention  to  his  words. 

In  working  out  his  domestic  policies.  President  Wilson 
could  state  the  general  principles  and  leave  the  working 
out  of  the  details  to  Congress.  But  the  details  of  his 
foreign  policy  had  to  be  worked  out  by  him  and  his 
cabinet  and  such  advice  as  he  could  draw  from  members 
of  Congress.  The  burden  of  the  work  was  thrown  on 
the  President  and  not  on  Congress.  And  the  nation  had 
to  wait  and  watch  for  results.  In  the  meantime  the 
revolution  continued  in  Mexico;  stories  of  inhuman 
atrocities  found  their  way  across  the  border;  and  fear 
of  European  complications  seized  the  minds  of  many 
nervous  Americans. 

The  press  Avas  doubtless  in  error  as  to  the  incapacity 
of  the  Latin  Americans  to  understand  President  Wil- 
son 's  langauge.  However,  their  fears  that  few  of  them 
would  pay  any  attention  to  his  words,  were  by  no  means 
without  foundation.  But  the  explanation  is  found  rather 
in  the  historical  policy  of  this  nation  than  in  a  total 


174  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

incapacity  of  the  Latin  Americans  to  understand  the 
President's  declaration. 

Suppose  we  notice  the  relation  of  the  United  States  to 
Canada  and  to  the  Latin  states.  The  line  between  Amer- 
icans and  Canadians  is  not  a  very  marked  one.  The  fact 
that  both  are  of  the  same  race  and  speak  the  same 
language  has  much  to  do  with  the  friendliness  that  exists. 
But  the  commercial,  industrial,  and  social  ties  are 
equally  as  strong.  On  the  other  hand,  the  line  between 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  the  citizens  of  the 
Latin  American  states  is  very  marked.  They  not  only 
differ  in  race  and  in  language,  but  the  commercial,  indus- 
trial, and  social  ties  are  very  weak. 

In  traveling  from  North  America  to  South  America, 
the  route  passes  through  European  ports.  If  American 
bankers  desired  to  transact  business  with  Latin  American 
bankers,  the  transaction  is  made  in  Europe ;  if  North 
Americans  trades  with  South  Americans,  it  is  carried 
on  for  the  most  part  in  European  vessels  and  through 
European  ports.  In  other  words,  Brazil  and  Argentina 
are  almost  as  far  from  the  United  States  commercially, 
as  the  Transvaal  or  Australia  was,  and  the  two  con- 
tinents of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  the  homes  of  repub- 
lican government,  are  almost  total  strangers.  But  each 
country  is  tied  strongly  to  the  aristocratic  and 
monarchical  countries  of  Europe. 

It  was  the  object  of  President  Wilson's  foreign  policy 
to  correct  this  anomalous  condition,  which  was  also 


BROADENS  THE  IVIOXROE  DOCTRINE  175 

responsible  for  the  newspaper  comments  referred  to 
above.  But  the  cause  for  such  a  condition  is  found 
in  the  historic  policy  of  this  country  toward  the  Latin 
American  states,  a  review  of  which  will  doubtless 
throw  some  light  on  the  subsequent  acts  of  President 
Wilson. 

The  United  States  was  the  first  of  the  colonies  of  the 
two  Americas  to  secure  complete  independence  of  its 
parent  government  of  Europe.  At  once  the  other  de- 
pendent colonies  felt  the  thrill  of  a  new  political  free- 
dom, and  the  Latin-American  patriots  turned  their  eyes 
toward  the  young  nation  in  North  America  for  help  and 
inspiration.  During  the  first  two  decades  of  the  19th 
century  the  hope  of  a  closer  union  of  the  two  Americas 
was  planted  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  north  and  south 
of  the  equator.  But  the  European  nations  held  such 
extensive  colonies  in  the  two  Americas  that  every 
European  war  was  the  signal  for  inter-colonial  strife. 
Therefore,  the  fortunes  of  war  in  Europe  bore  directly 
on  the  welfare  of  the  colonies  in  the  two  Americas  and 
what  affected  the  colonies  affected  the  United  States. 
The  thirteen  states  that  composed  the  young  republic 
of  North  America  were  hemmed  in  by  the  English  on 
the  north  and  the  Spanish  on  the  south  and  west.  More- 
over, the  leading  nations  of  Europe  had  colonies  in  both 
North  America  and  South  America,  and  whichever  way 
the  weak  republic  looked  it  was  confronted  by  European 
influences  that  were  hostile  to  a  republican  form  of 
government. 


176  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

President  Washington  saw  early  and  very  clearly  that 
the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  success  of  the 
new  republic  were  the  influences  of  European  monarchies 
working  through  their  colonies  on  this  continent.  There- 
fore, in  his  farewell  address  to  Congress,  September  17, 
1796,  he  cautioned  this  country  to  "observe  good  faith 
and  justice  to  all  nations."  But  he  added,  "Against  the 
insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence,  I  conjure  you  to  be- 
lieve me,  fellow  citizens,  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people 
ought  to  be  constantly  awake,  since  history  and  experi- 
ence prove  that  foreign  influence  is  one  of  the  most 
baneful  foes  of  republican  government.  .  .  .  The 
just  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  to  foreign  nations, 
is,  in  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with 
them  as  little  political  connection  as  possible — so  far  as 
we  have  already  formed  engagements,  let  them  be  ful- 
filled with  perfect  good  faith — here  let  us  stop."  And 
he  added,  "  'Tis  our  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent 
alliances  with  any  portion  of  the  foreign  world ; — so  far, 
I  mean,  as  we  are  now  at  libertv  to  do  it — for  let  me 
not  be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing  infidelity  to 
existing  engagements.  .  .  .  But  in  my  opinion  it  is 
unnecessary  and  would  be  unwise  to  extend  them." 

President  Washington  established  the  policy  also  that 
this  nation  could  not  be  indifferent  to  the  traffic  in 
colonies  by  European  nations  in  which  sections  of  this 
continent  were  to  be  transferred  from  one  nation  to 
another.    Therefore,  when  Napoleon  took  Louisiana  from 


BROADEXS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  177 

Spain,  onr  purchase  of  that  territory  was  facilitated  by 
the  controversy  that  arose  as  a  result  of  that  transfer. 

At  the  same  time  it  was  reported  that  Florida  was 
about  to  pass  from  Spain  to  England,  and  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  United  States  was  clearly  defined  by  Mr. 
King,  our  minister  to  Spain,  in  these  words:  ''We  are 
contented  that  the  Floridas  remain  in  the  hands  of 
Spain,  but  should  not  be  willing  to  see  them  transferred, 
except  to  ourselves." 

Later  both  France  and  England  were  reminded  of  this 
policy  when  it  appeared  that  Cuba  was  about  to  pass  to 
one  or  the  other  of  these  nations,  and  in  1811  President 
Madison  was  authorized  secretly  by  Congress  to  occupy 
Florida  ''subject  to  further  negotiations,"  to  keep  that 
territory  from  passing  into  the  hands  of  England  or 
France. 

The  European  war  at  the  beginning  of  the  19th 
century  was  occupying  the  energies  of  the  European 
nations.  Spain  especially  was  about  exhausted.  The 
Spanish  colonies  in  America  took  that  opportunity  to 
revolt  and  strike  for  independence  (1810-1826).  Even 
the  United  States  was  unable  to  avoid  foreign  complica- 
tions. The  aristocratic,  monarchial  governments  of 
Europe  had  a  contempt  for  a  republican  government, 
and  none  knew  that  better  and  felt  it  more  keenly  than 
did  the  presidents  of  the  United  States,  and  the  war  of 
1812  was  a  necessity.  Although  the  treaty  of  peace 
ended  the  war  in  Europe,  the  nations  of  Europe  now 


178  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

began  to  turn  their  attention  to  this  hemisphere  again. 

On  September  26,  1815,  the  Emperors  of  Austria 
and  Russia  and  the  King  of  Prussia  concluded  at  Paris 
a  treaty  which  resulted  in  the  Holy  Alliance.  Later 
France  joined,  and  in  1822  one  of  the  purposes  of  this 
treaty  was  declared  to  be,  '*to  put  an  end  to  the  system 
of  representative  governments."  One  of  its  first  acts 
was  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  Spain,  and  it  was  pro- 
posed to  assist  that  country  in  regaining  control  over 
her  revolted  provinces  in  this  hemisphere.  Again 
the  policy  outlined  by  Washington  and  employed  by  his 
successors  was  restated  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  Secre- 
tary of  State  under  President  Monroe.  However,  the 
activity  of  the  Holy  Alliance  was  so  aggressive  that 
President  Monroe  felt  the  necessity,  on  December  2,  1823, 
of  sending  the  following  message  to  Congress : 

"We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  amicable 
relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and  these 
foreign  powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any 
attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace 
and  safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  dependencies 
of  any  European  power  we  have  not  interfered  and  shall 
not  interfere.  But  with  the  governments  who  have  de- 
clared their  independence  and  maintained  it,  and  whose 
independence  we  have,  on  great  consideration  and  on 
just  principles,  acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any 
interposition  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  con- 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  179 

trolling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any 
European  power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifesta- 
tion of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United 
States.  .  .  .  The  late  events  in  Spain  and  Portugal 
show  that  Europe  is  still  unsettled.  Of  this  important 
fact  no  stronger  fact  can  be  adduced  than  that  the  allied 
powers  should  have  thought  it  proper,  on  any  principle 
satisfactory  to  themselves,  to  have  interposed,  by  force, 
in  the  internal  affairs  of  Spain.  .  .  .  Our  policy 
toward  Europe  is  .  .  .  not  to  interfere  in  the  internal 
concerns  of  any  of  its  powei^  .  .  .  but  in  regard  to 
these  (the  two  Americas)  continents,  circumstances  are 
eminently  and  conspicuously  different.  It  is  impossible 
that  the  allied  powers  should  extend  their  political  sys- 
tems to  any  portion  of  either  continent  without  endan- 
gering our  peace  and  happiness.  Nor  can  any  one  believe 
that  our  Southern  brethren,  if  left  to  themselves,  would 
adopt  it  of  their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  impossible, 
therefore,  that  we  should  behold  such  interposition  in 
any  form  with  indifference.'^ 

Although  this  pronouncement  was  aimed  primarily 
against  the  activities  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  President 
Monroe  used  the  occasion  also  to  declare  the  policy  of 
the  nation  as  to  the  claims  of  Russia  and  England  in 
the  Northwest.  He  said:  "The  occasion  has  been 
judged  proper  for  asserting  as  a  principle  in  which  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States  are  involved, 
that  the   American   continents,   bv  the   free   and  inde- 


180  WOODRO\Y  ^YILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

pendent  condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  main- 
tained, are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects 
for  future  colonization  by  any  European  power." 

This  foreign  policy,  outlined  by  Washington  and 
adopted  by  Adams,  Jefferson,  and  Madison,  and  enlarged 
by  each,  was  stated  in  this  definite  way  by  President 
Monroe  and  has  gone  into  history  as  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
Its  purposes  were  fourfold:  (1)  To  protect  the  Latin 
American  states  against  the  interference  of  European 
nations  and  this  policy  was  avowedly  based  on  our  right 
of  self  defense;  (2)  to  prevent  further  colonization  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere  by  any  European  power;  (3)  to 
prohibit  European  powers  from  transferring  colonies 
from  one  nation  to  another;  and  (4)  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  monarchical  ideas  or  principles  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

This  doctrine  was  accepted  by  the  nations  of  Europe 
as  a  definite  foreign  policy  of  this  government.  The 
fact  that  the  United  States  made  such  marvelous  develop- 
ment and  was  soon  classed  as  one  of  the  world  powers 
gave  to  the  ^lonroe  Doctrine  a  potential  danger  for  all 
European  nations.  Moreover,  the  additional  fact  that, 
in  the  days  of  slow  transportation  and  primitive  naval 
defense,  three  thousand  miles  intervened  between  the 
two  hemispheres  gave  to  the  new  Republic  in  the  West 
a  supremacy  that  went  unchallenged  by  the  monarchies 
of  Europe.  However,  after  this  supremacy  was  recog- 
nized by  European  nations,  the  attitude  of  the  United 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE      181 

States  toward  the  small  states  of  Central  and  South 
America  was  not  always  that  of  a  generous  big  brother 
toward  younger  and  weaker  brothers ;  and  herein  lies 
the  secret  of  the  hatred  of  the  Latin- American  states  for 

the  United  States. 

Although  the  European  nations  were  estopped  from 
destroying  the  independence  of  the  Latin-American 
states,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  did  not  guarantee  that  these 
states' would  be  free  from  conquest  by  the  United  States. 
Therefore,  as  the  dangers  from  Europe  diminished,  the 
fears  aroused  by  the  imperialistic  tendencies  of  the 
United  States  increased,  and  before  many  decades  had 
passed,  the  Latin- American  states  partly  on  this  account 
and  partly  on  account  of  a  social  kinship,  looked  to 
Europe  for  help  and  sympathy  while  the  stron'g  arm  of 
the  United  States  reached  out  and  took  a  part  of  their 
territory  and  was  ever  threatening  to  take  more. 

The  United  States  preferred  to  remain  neutral  in  the 
first  movement  for  a  Pan  American  Union  in  1825.  But 
American  citizens  settled  on  IMexican  soil  and  aided  in 
securing  the  independence  of  Texas  and  later  added  that 
territoiT  to  the  United  States.  War  with  Mexico  fol- 
lowed, and  the  southwestern  states  were  taken  from 
Mexico.  Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Latin  Amer- 
icans, it  was  not  a  question  as  to  whether  such  a  conquest 
worked  to  the  advantage  of  the  people  annexed  to  the 
United  States.  But  the  all  important  question  was  what 
other  territory  would  be  seized  by  the  United  States. 


182  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Cuba,  Santo  Domingo,  Haiti,  and  even  Canada  were 
threatened  as  the  object  of  American  greed ;  and  after 
that,  what  ?  Central  and  South  America  had  nothing  to 
fear  from  Europe,  but  everything  to  fear  from  America ; 
and  the  fact  that  the  United  States  did  intervene  in  the 
interest  of  Mexico  and  of  Venezuela  proved  to  the 
world  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  still  a  live  Amer- 
ican policy.  But  to  the  Latin- Americans  it  was  another 
reminder  that  the  one  powerful  nation  they  had  to  fear 
was  the  United  States. 

IMoreover,  the  great  financial  interests  of  the  United 
States  and  of  Europe  were  permitted  to  dominate  the 
domestic  affairs  of  the  Republics  of  Central  and  South 
America  which  had  not  developed  as  rapidly  as  the  other 
nations  of  the  world.  Their  governments  were  unstable, 
and  their  institutions  were  insecure.  Therefore,  the 
United  States,  having  made  such  wonderful  progress, 
naturally  looked  with  condescension  upon  them ;  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States  considered  them  legitimate 
fields  for  exploitation.  ^Moreover,  the  business  interests 
of  America  might  adopt  methods  in  these  states  that 
would  not  be  tolerated  at  home,  yet  have  the  assurance 
that  the  American  government  would  support  them. 

Since  the  governments  of  these  states  were  by  nature 
unstable,  the  people  were  easily  excited  to  the  point  of 
revolution,  which  was  encouraged  very  often  because 
outsiders  hoped  to  gain  by  the  change  of  rulers  or  the 
defeat  of  the  dominant  political  party.     If  revolution 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE      183 

was  attempted  and  succeeded,  and  its  leader  was  able 
to  proclaim  himself  President,  his  position  would  be 
made  secure  by  the  recognition  of  the  United  States  be- 
cause it  was  supposed  to  be  more  immediately  concerned 
in  the  preservation  of  order  and  the  insurance  of  stabil- 
ity, and  to  have  better  means  of  ascertaining  the  facts. 
Having  been  accepted  by  the  United  States,  "the 
usurper,  the  patriot,  or  the  adventurer,  and  sometimes 
he  was  one  or  both  or  a  mixture  of  all  three,  was  by 
right  accorded  his  seat  in  the  council  of  nations  and  had 
nothing  more  to  fear  until  the  next  revolution." 

In  this  way  the  American  government  became  an  un- 
conscious offender  against  justice  and  liberty.  Itself  the 
home  of  constitutional  government,  it  has  seemed  to 
hinder  the  development  of  constitutional  government 
among  its  nearby  neighbors.  Certainly,  it  has  given  it 
little  positive  aid.  The  big  brother  was  looked  upon  as 
a  bully  and  the  little  brothers  grew  from  decade  to  decade 
fearing  and  distrusting  the  motives  of  the  big  brother, 
and  making  more  and  more  concessions  to  the  European 
nations  until  the  business  of  Central  and  South  America 
was  transferred  for  the  most  part  to  European  centers. 
Meanwhile,  the  Latin- American  states  had  made  repeated 
efforts    to    form    a    union    of    the    republics    of    this 

hemisphere. 

During  the  Administration  of  President  Cleveland, 
however,  sixty-five  years  after  the  IMonroe  Doctrine  was 
proclaimed  to  the  world,  this  nation  took  a  determined 


184  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

step  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  Latin- American 
states.  In  1888,  Mr.  Cleveland's  Secretary  of  State,  Mr. 
Bayard,  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congress,  invited 
the  several  Latin-American  republics  to  join  the 
United  States  in  a  conference  to  be  held  at  Wash- 
ington in  1889  to  consider  (1)  measures  to  preserve 
peace  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  Latin- American 
states,  (2)  forming  American  customs  union;  (3)  fre- 
quent communications  between  the  two  continents;  (4) 
uniform  system  of  customs  regulations ;  ( 5 )  unif omi 
system  of  weights  and  measures  and  the  protection  of 
copyrights,  trade-marks,  etc.;  (6)  a  common  silver  coin; 
(7)  arbitration,  and  (8)  the  general  welfare  of  the  two 
continents. 

As  a  result  of  this  invitation  the  first  great  Pan- 
American  conference  met  in  Washington,  October  2, 
1889.  In  the  meantime  Benjamin  Harrison  had  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Cleveland  as  President,  and  James  G.  Blaine 
was  Secretary  of  State  and  presided  over  the  Congress. 
The  following  countries  were  represented:  Bolivia, 
Brazil,  Columbia,  Costa  Rica,  Guatamala,  Honduras, 
Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Peru,  Salvador,  The  United  States, 
Uruguay,  Argentine  Republic,  Chili,  Ecuador,  Hayti, 
and  Paraguay.  The  chief  result  of  this  Conference  was 
the  establishment  in  Washington  of  an  International 
Bureau  of  American  Republics  for  the  collection  and 
publication  of  information  relating  to  commerce,  prod- 
ucts, laws  and  customs  of  the  countries  represented. 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE       185 

The  next  step  in  bringing  about  a  better  understanding 
between  the  two  Americas  was  the  act  of  the  United 
States  in  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  Cuba.  It  is  true 
that  America  acquired  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines, 
but  the  fact  that  this  great  nation  secured  the  inde- 
pendence of  Cuba  and  then  guaranteed  its  independence, 
set  a  new  standard  in  international  conduct.  A  few 
years  later  (1901)  President  IMcKinley  suggested  that 
Mexico  call  the  second  Pan-American  Congress  to  meet 
at  the  City  of  Mexico.  Accordingly,  it  was  called  to 
meet  October  22,  1901,  and  continued  in  session  until 
January  31,  1902.  The  chief  subject  discussed  at  this 
conference  was  arbitration.  The  third  Conference  met 
at  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1906,  and  the  fourth  at  Buenos 
Aires  in  1910. 

As  a  result  of  these  conferences  much  of  the  current 
suspicion  and  distrust  and  even  hatred  was  being  dis- 
sipated, a  better  feeling  was  beginning  to  prevail,  and 
when  the  Mexican  Revolution  broke  out,  the  United 
States  w^as  in  a  fair  way  to  convince  the  Latin- American 
states  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  promulgated  not 
only  for  the  protection  and  benefit  of  the  United  States, 
but  for  this  whole  American  hemisphere,  and  that  when 
it  ceases  to  serve  all,  it  is  not  likely  to  be  of  any  use 
to  the  United  States. 

Such  in  outline  is  the  historic  policy  of  this  nation 
toward  the  Latin-American  republics.  The  way  had 
already  been  prepared  for  a  Pan-American  Union.  How- 


186  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ever,  there  were  fears  and  suspicions  abiding  still  among 
the  Latin- American  republics.  It  was  natural,  therefore, 
for  this  suspicion  to  grow  as  the  Revolution  in  Mexico 
called  forth  editorials  in  America  demanding  interven- 
tion in  Mexico  and  annexation  of  a  part  or  all  of  that 
country  to  the  United  States.  History  could  easily 
supply  the  nations  of  this  hemisphere  with  a  very  strik- 
ing parallel. 

Mr.  Wilson,  therefore,  issued  this  first  pronouncement 
for  all  the  Latin-American  states.  However,  within  a 
few  weeks  he  sent  a  representative  into  Mexico  to  assure 
the  rulers  of  that  distressed  country  of  his  great  desire 
to  be  of  assistance  to  the  Mexican  people.  He  did  not 
have  long  to  wait  for  an  answer,  and  then  he  learned 
that  his  words  were  not  accepted  in  good  faith.  The 
ancient  suspicion  and  hatred  flamed  out  anew,  and  the 
American  government  was  powerless  to  aid  the  cause  of 
humanity ;  such  were  the  fruits  of  an  ancient  foreign 
policA^  that  permitted  the  scales  of  justice  to  dip  low 
on  the  American  side.  It  was  then  that  the  President 
adopted  his  ''watchful  waiting  policy,"  but  the  press 
was  clamoring  for  intervention  and  annexation.  This 
newspaper  attitude  was  so  contrary  to  the  President's 
pronouncement  that  it  was  difficult  for  the  Latin- 
American  states  to  understand  the  President's  deep  moral 
and  humane  purpose.  Certainly,  if  it  was  impossible 
for  Mr,  Wilson's  own  friends  to  understand  his  policies, 
how  could  a  people  fundamentally  unlike  the  people  of 


UKOADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE       187 

the  United  States  understand?  The  press  urged  the 
Latin-American  states  to  accept  in  good  faith  Mr.  Wil- 
son's wise  counsel,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  clamoring 
for  intervention  in  Mexico  and  annexation  of  territory. 
Therefore,  another  pronouncement  became  necessary. 

It  was  at  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress  in  ]Mobile, 
Alabama,  October  27,  1913,  that  Mr.  Wilson  very  clearly 
and  emphatically  announced  his  Pan-American  Policy. 
In  his  first  pronouncement  soon  after  his  inauguration, 
he  intimated  that  at  a  later  date  he  would  define  his 
policy  more  in  detail.  The  Mexican  situation  was  ap- 
proaching a  crisis  and  America  was  powerless  to  aid  in 
the  settlement ;  and,  the  South  American  states,  taking 
their  cue  somewhat  from  the  annexationists  of  America, 
still  believed  that  the  imperialistic  policy  of  the  United 
States  was  a  great  menace  to  their  peace  and  prosperity. 
At  this  conference  representatives  were  present,  however, 
from  all  the  leading  Latin-American  states. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  significance  of  the  ^lobile 
address,  therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that 
i\Ir.  Wilson 's  personal  representative  in  Mexico  had  only 
recently  notified  ^Ir.  Wilson  of  the  futility  of  his  at- 
tempts to  accomplish  anything  in  Mexico  because  of 
their  deep  seated  hatred  for  the  Americans.  Moreover, 
the  delegates  from  the  Latin- American  states  were  still 
mindful  of  the  Revolution  in  Panama,  and  were  able  to 
read  the  editorials  of  the  annexationists.     Therefore,  it 


188  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

was  exceedingly  difficult  even  for  an  American  to  know 
what  the  policy  of  this  government  was,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  Latin- American. 

The  President's  Mobile  speech  is  perhaps  his  most 
important  utterance  bearing  on  our  relations  with  the 
other  states  of  this  hemisphere.  He  stood  in  one  of  the 
extreme  southern  cities.  His  face  was  turned  toward  the 
Gulf  beyond  which  lay  Republics  that  had  been  laboring 
for  generations  to  bring  forth  constitutional  government 
but  had  only  partly  succeeded.  To  their  representatives 
as  well  as  to  ours  he  declared  that  the  future  "is  going 
to  be  very  different  for  this  hemisphere  from  the  past. ' ' 
Because  the  states  lying  to  the  South  of  us  "will  be 
drawn  closer  to  us  by  innumerable  ties,  and,  I  hope,  chief 
of  all  by  the  tie  of  a  common  understanding. ' ' 

*'We  must  prove  ourselves  their  friends  and 
cliampions,"  lie  said  ''upon  terms  of  equality  and 
honor.  You  cannot  be  friends  upon  any  other 
terms  than  upon  the  terms  of  equality.  You 
cannot  be  friends  at  all  except  upon  the  terms  of 
honor.  We  must  show  ourselves  friends  by  com- 
prehending their  interest,  whether  it  squares  with 
our  own  interest  or  not.  It  is  a  very  perilous  thing 
to  determine  the  foreign  policy  of  a  nation  in 
the  terms  of  material  interest.     It  not  only  is 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  189 

unfair  to  those  with  whom  you  are  dealing,  but 
it  is  degrading  as  regards  your  own  actions. 

*  ^  Comprehension  must  be  the  soil  in  which 
shall  grow  all  the  fruits  of  friendship,  and 
there  is  a  reason  and  a  compulsion  lying  behind 
all  this,  which  are  dearer  than  anything  else  to 
the  thoughtful  men  of  America.  I  mean  the 
development  of  constitutional  liberty  in  the  world. 
Human  rights,  national  integrity  and  opportunity, 
as  against  material  interests — that  is  the  issue 
which  we  now  have  to  face.'^ 

At  this  point  he  turned  to  the  representatives  of  the 
Latin-American  states  and  released  a  policy  that  caught 
the  entire  nation  by  surprise. 

^^I  want  to  take  this  occasion  to  say  that  the 
United  States  will  never  again  seek  one  additional 
foot  of  territory  by  conquest.  She  will  devote 
herself  to  showing  that  she  knows  how  to  make 
honorable  and  fruitful  use  of  the  territory  she 
has.  And  she  must  regard  it  as  one  of  the  duties 
of  friendship  to  see  that  from  no  quarter  are 
material  interests  made  superior  to  human  liberty 
and  national  opportunity.  I  say  this,  not  with 
a  single  thought  that  anyone  will  gainsay  it,  but 


190  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

merely  to  fix  in  our  consciousness  what  our  real 
relationship  with  the  rest  of  America  is.  It  is 
the  relationship  of  a  family  of  mankind  devoted 
to  the  development  of  true  constitutional  liberty. 
We  know  that  that  is  the  soil  out  of  which  the 
best  enterprise  springs.  We  know  that  this  is 
a  cause  which  we  are  making  in  common  with 
our  neighbor,  because  we  have  had  to  make  it  for 
ourselves." 

He  then  spoke  of  our  national  problems  that  had  been 
a  leading  topic  of  discussion  at  the  Commercial  Congress. 
The  tariff  laws  had  just  been  enacted  and  the  currency 
bills  were  being  stubbornly  opposed  in  the  Senate. 

^^This  is  not  America  because  it  is  rich,"  he 
said.  ^'This  is  not  America  because  it  has  set 
up  for  a  great  population  great  opportunities  of 
material  prosperity.  America  is  a  name  which 
sounds  in  the  ears  of  men  everywhere  as  a  syno- 
nym with  individual  opportunity,  because  a 
sjnionym  of  individual  liberty.  I  would  rather  be- 
long to  a  poor  nation  that  Avas  free  than  to  a  rich 
nation  that  had  ceased  to  be  in  love  with  liberty. 
But  we  shall  not  be  poor  if  we  love  liberty,  because 
the  nation  that  loves  liberty  truly  sets  every 
man  free  to  do  his  best  and  be  his  best;  and  that 


BROADENS  THE  MOKKOE  DOCTRINE  igj 

means  tlie  release  of  all  the  splendid  energies  of 
a  great  people  who  think  for  themselves.  A 
nation  of  employees  cannot  be  free  any  more 
than  a  nation  of  employers  can  be." 

After  emphasizing:  again  the  points  which  must  unite 
the  two  Americas,  he  closed  with  these  words: 

*'It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  day  of  infinite 
hope,  of  confidence  in  a  future  greater  than  the 
past  has  been,  for  I  am  fain  to  believe  that,  in 
spite  of  all  the  things  that  we  wish  to  correct,  the 
nineteenth  century  that  now  lies  behind  us  has 
brought  us  a  long  stage  towards  the  time  when, 
slowly  ascending  the  tedious  climb  that  leads 
to  the  final  uplands,  we  shall  get  the  ultimate  view 
of  the  beauties  of  mankind.  We  have  breasted  a 
considerable  part  of  that  climb,  and  shall  pres- 
ently— it  may  be  in  a  generation  or  two — come  out 
upon  those  great  heights  where  there  shines,  unob- 
structed, the  light  of  the  justice  of  God." 

This  address  produced  a  variety  of  responses  in  this 
country.  Some  received  it  with  enthusiasm  and  declared 
that  it  was  an  exalted  utterance  from  a  great  leader. 
But  others  reacted  as  though  they  had  received  a  sudden 


192  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

shock  and  replied  that  "many  will  resent  this  assumption 
of  authority  to  bind  the  American  people  to  this  policy. ' ' 
Between  these  two  extremes  was  a  third  class  who  re- 
peated the  statement  that  President  Wilson's  ''idealism 
will  not  conform  to  that  of  the  Mexicans." 

His  foreign  policy  with  reference  to  the  Latin- 
American  States  was  at  last  very  definitely  stated — ''we 
must  show  ourselves  friends  by  comprehending  their  in- 
terests, whether  it  squares  with  our  interests  or  not." 
Therefore,  the  balances  were  to  be  held  even.  It  must 
not  dip  low  on  the  American  side.  And  again — ' '  I  want 
to  take  this  occasion  to  say  that  the  United  States  will 
never  again  seek  one  additional  foot  of  territory  by  con- 
quest." This  emphatic  statement  did  come  as  a  shock 
to  the  annexationists  who  were  clamoring  for  interven- 
tion and  by  their  acts  were  making  it  difficult  for  the 
Latin- American  States  to  understand  the  deep  meaning 
of  the  President's  foreign  policy. 

It  was  a  source  of  much  annoyance  to  the  business 
interests  of  the  United  States  that  South  America  was 
closer  to  Europe,  commercially,  industrially,  and  socially, 
than  to  North  America.  And  though  President  Wilson 
was  repeatedly  calling  the  attention  of  the  country  to 
the  necessity  of  shaping  our  foreign  policy  so  that  we 
would  be  considered  the  friends  of  the  Latin-American 
States,  the  business  of  America  seemed  to  insist  that  the 
United  States  should  intervene  in  Mexico  in  order  to 
protect  American  business  in  that  war  distracted  country, 


BROADEXS  THE  MONROE  DOCTETXE  193 

regardless  of  the  effect  on  the  remainder  of  the  "Western 
Hemisphere.  The  President,  however,  was  insisting  that 
a  new  standard  should  be  set,  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
should  have  a  new  meaning,  and  that  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  the  home  of  constitutional  government, 
should  have  a  more  perfect  union  of  interests.  There- 
fore, in  his  message  to  Congress,  December  2,  1913,  he 
declared : 

**  There  is  only  one  possible  standard  by  which 
to  determine  controversies  between  the  United 
States  and  other  nations,  and  that  is  compounded 
of  these  two  elements:  Onr  own  honor  and  our 
obligations  to  the  peace  of  the  world.  A  test 
so  compounded  ought  easily  to  be  made  to  govern 
the  establishment  of  new  treaty  obligations  and 
the  interpretation  of  those  already  assumed.    .    .    . 

"We  are  the  friends  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment in  America;  we  are  more  than  its  friends, 
vre  are  its  champions,  because  in  no  other  way 
can  our  neighbors,  to  whom  we  would  wish  in 
every  w^ay  to  make  proof  of  our  friendship,  work 
out  their  own  development  in  peace  and  liberty.'' 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  was  at  last  taking  on  a  new 
meaning  or  giving  way  to  a  new  doctrine  that  was  to 
supersede   the   historic   policy   that   served   this   nation 


194  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

primarily  and  the  Latin- American  states  incidentally  in 
the  eariier  days  of  our  national  life. 

The  old  Monroe  Doctrine  was  born  in  the  fear  of 
European  interference.  But  this  new  doctrine  had  its 
birth,  not  in  fear,  but  in  a  common  friendship,  a  common 
sympathy  and  understanding  among  the  Republics  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere. 

This  new  foreign  policy  facilitated  the  forming  of 
treaties  with  fifteen  Latin-American  States,  which  were 
negotiated  by  Secretary  Bryan  during  the  session  of 
the  Long  Congress,  and  these  new  treaties  showed  the 
temper  of  the  Latin  American  States  in  the  fact  that 
they  seemed  very  willing  to  accept  any  offer  from  this 
nation  that  looked  toward  maintaining  friendly  rela- 
tions, or  securing  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Re- 
publics of  this  hemisphere. 

It  required  more  than  a  year  for  the  President  to 
convince  even  some  of  his  friends  that  this  nation  would 
not  make  a  war  of  conquest  on  any  Latin-American 
state.  Moreover,  he  held  steadfastly  to  the  policy  that 
we  should  treat  with  the  other  republics  on  terms  of 
equality  and  not  as  a  superior  to  an  inferior;  and  that 
his  administration  would  prove  to  the  world  that  it  was 
the  friend  of  constitutional  government. 

His  watchful  waiting  policy  was  one  evidence  of  his 
friendship.  His  failure  to  recognize  Huerta  was  another. 
But  there  was  still  another  test  to  be  made.  Large 
business   interests   had   so   fastened   their   hold   on   the 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE      I95 

machinery  of  government  in  America  and  had  so  directed 
its  processes  that  not  only  the  domestic  policies  were 
controlled  by  them,  but  also  the  foreign  policies  with 
reference  to  the  Latin-American  States.  It  was  merely 
the  continuation  of  an  historic  policy  to  suffer  Amer- 
icans to  exploit  the  Latin  American  States  for  their  own 
selfish  interests.  As  a  result  our  diplomatic  relations 
with  those  states  received  the  contemptuous  name  of 
''dollar  diplomacy/'  since  the  diplomatic  relations 
seemed  to  exist  chiefly  for  the  protection  of  American 
business  in  Central  and  South  America. 

President  Wilson  declared  at  the  beginning  of  his 
administration  that  "we  shall  prefer  those  who  act  in 
the  interest  of  peace  and  honor."  And  again  seven 
months  later  at  INIobile  he  asserted  that  the  Latin- 
American  States  ''have  had  harder  bargains  driven 
with  them  in  the  matter  of  loans  than  any  other 
peoples  in  the  world."  And  he  declared  emphatically 
that  this  nation  regards  it  "  as  one  of  the  duties  of  friend- 
ship to  see  that  from  no  quarter  are  material  interests 
made  superior  to  human  liberty  and  national  oppor- 
tunity. ^ ' 

But  even  this  IMobile  speech  was  not  convincing  to  the 
business  of  America  that  had  extended  its  interests  into 
these  Republics.  Therefore,  on  July  4,  1914,  the  Presi- 
dent declared  in  Independence  Hall  that  one  of  the  most 
serious  questions  for  sober-minded  men  to  address  them- 
selves to  in  the  United  States  is  this : 


196  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

^'Wliat  are  we  going  to  do  with  the  influence 
and  power  of  this  great  nation?  Are  we  going 
to  play  the  old  role  of  using  that  power  for  our 
aggrandizement  and  material  benefit  only?"  And 
then  in  a  few  words  he  told  the  American  people 
that  a  limit  to  ''dollar  diplomacy'^  had  been 
reached. 

''The  Department  of  State  at  Washington, '^ 
he  said,  "is  constantly  called  upon  to  back  up 
the  commercial  enterprises  and  industrial  enter- 
prises of  the  United  States  in  foreign  countries, 
and  it  at  one  time  w^ent  so  far  in  that  direction 
that  all  its  diplomacy  came  to  be  designated  as 
'dollar  diplomacy.'  It  was  called  upon  to  sup- 
port every  man  who  wanted  to  earn  anything 
anywhere  if  he  was  an  American.  But  there 
ought  to  be  a  limit  to  that. 

"There  is  no  man  more  interested  than  I  am 
in  carrying  the  enterprise  of  American  business 
men  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  I  was  inter- 
ested in  it  long  before  I  was  suspected  of  being 
a  politician.  I  have  been  preaching  it  year  after 
year  as  the  great  thing  that  lay  in  the  future 
for  the  United  States,  to  show  her  wdt  and  skill 
and  enterprise  and  influence  in  every  country  in 
the  world.    But  observe  the  limit  to  all  that  which 


BROADENS  THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  197 

is  laid  upon  us  perhaps  more  than  upon  any  other 
nation  in  the  world.  We  set  this  nation  up,  at 
any  rate  we  professed  to  set  it  up,  to  vindicate 
the  rights  of  men.  We  did  not  name  any  differ- 
ences between  one  race  and  another.  We  did  not 
set  up  any  barriers  against  any  particular  people. 
We  opened  our  gates  to  all  the  world  and  said: 
^Let  all  men  who  wish  to  be  free  come  to  us  and 
they  will  be  welcome.'  We  said:  ^This  inde- 
pendence of  ours  is  not  a  selfish  thing  for  our 
own  exclusive  private  use.  It  is  for  everybody 
for  whom  we  can  find  the  means  of  extending  it.' 

*^We  cannot  with  that  oath  taken  in  our  youth, 
we  cannot  with  that  great  ideal  set  before  us 
when  we  were  a  young  people  and  numbered  only 
a  scant  3,000,000,  take  upon  ourselves,  now  that 
we  are  100,000,000  strong,  any  other  conception 
of  duty  than  we  then  entertained. 

^'If  American  enterprise  in  foreign  countries, 
particularly  in  those  foreigTi  countries  wdiich  are 
not  strong  enough  to  resist  us,  takes  the  shape 
of  imposing  upon  and  exploiting  the  mass  of  the 
people  of  that  country,  it  ought  to  be  checked 
and  not  encouraged.  I  am  willing  to  get  anything 
for  an  American  that  money  and  enterprise  can 
obtain  except  the   suppression  of  the   rights   of 


198  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

other  men.  I  will  not  lielp  any  man  buy  a  power 
which  he  ought  not  to  exercise  over  his  fellow- 
beings.  ' ' 

Thus,  after  sixteen  months,  President  Wilson 's  foreign 
policy  as  pertaining  to  Central  and  South  America  was 
clearly  before  the  people,  and  briefly  stated  it  is  as 
follows : 

1.  To  treat  the  Latin- American  States  as  friends  and 
as  equals. 

2.  To  respect  and  encourage  constitutional  govern- 
ment in  the  Americas. 

3.  To  acquire  no  new  territory  by  conquest. 

4.  To  give  no  aid  to  American  business  operating  in 
foreign  countries  in  a  way  that  would  be  illegal  at  home. 

5.  To  give  no  aid  or  encouragement  to  revolutionists 
who  seek  to  seize  the  reins  of  government  for  their  own 
advantage. 

President  Wilson  adhered  to  this  policy  until  the 
European  war  broke  on  the  world,  and  then  events 
shaped  themselves  so  rapidly  that  a  New  Pan-Ameri- 
canism with  its  roots  in  these  policies  grew  rapidly.  An 
understanding  of  those  policies  is  necessary  to  a  sym- 
pathetic attitude  toward  the  President's  Mexican  policy 
which  is  an  outgrowth  of  this  larger  Pan-American 
policy. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  NEW  AMERICAN  POLICY  APPLIED  TO 

MEXICO 

The  revolution  in  Mexico  gave  the  most  unfavorable 
opportunity  for  the  application  of  an  idealistic  policy, 
since  belligerents  do  not  exalt  the  Golden  Rule  above 
the  sword.  However,  there  is  a  certain  kinship  and 
bond  of  sympathy  among  all  the  Latin- American  states, 
and  the  new  Pan-American  policy  was  to  include  Mexico 
as  well  as  the  others.  Therefore,  its  application  under 
such  unusual  circumstance  makes  an  interesting  chapter 
in  American  history. 

Mexico,  a  mediaeval  nation  ruled  by  an  absolute 
monarch,  called  President,  after  the  custom  of  the  West- 
em  Hemisphere,  existed  side  by  side  with  the  United 
States,  a  modern  nation  that  had  prospered  under  con- 
stitutional government.  Such  were  the  conditions  in 
1910  when  President  Diaz  felt  his  power  crumbling 
away  over  smouldering  fires  due  to  uncivilized  outrages 
committed  against  liberty  in  the  name  of  liberty. 

The  people  of  Mexico  had  suffered  most  from  two 
great  evils.  First,  a  few  landholders  owned  in  vast 
estates,  the  greater  part  of  the  land  of  Mexico,  and  held 
a  large  part  of  the  population  in  a  state  little  better  than 

199 


200  WOODKOW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  of  slavery.  A  kind  of  feudalism  existed  in  which 
state  the  non-landowning  class  was  little  superior  to  the 
serfs  and  villains  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Second,  the 
national  resources  of  the  country  were  exploited  by 
foreigners,  who  had  bought  privileges  and  monopolies 
of  one  kind  and  another  from  the  President  and  who 
expected  their  native  country  to  protect  them  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  purchased  rights. 

In  1910  Francisco  Madero,  leader  of  a  great  reform 
movement  to  restore  representative  government  and  free 
the  masses  from  a  state  of  slavery,  became  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  against  Porfirio  Diaz.  To  become  a 
vigorous  candidate  against  the  Absolute  was  considered 
in  itself  an  act  of  treason,  and  Madero  was  thrown  into 
jail.  However,  the  secret  longings  of  the  people  for  a 
change  (they  did  not  know  what  liberty  was),  for  relief 
from  conditions  that  would  have  been  intolerable  in  a 
free  country,  gave  the  reform  movement  an  enthusiasm 
which  very  naturally  broke  into  an  insurrection  and 
later  into  a  revolution.  Madero  in  the  meantime  was 
liberated.  By  May,  1911,  the  storm  had  become  so 
threatening  that  President  Diaz  abdicated  and  fled  to 
Europe.  Madero  was  the  man  of  the  hour,  and  in  Oc- 
tober following  he  was  elected  President  with  little 
opposition. 

But  the  calamities  and  the  unremedied  wrongs  of  one 
long  rule  could  not  be  remedied  by  the  abdication  of  one 
man.     A  revolution  had  begun  that  was  to  shiver  the 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  201 

nation  from  the  Presidency  to  the  lot  of  the  stolid  peon 
in  remote  and  forgotten  districts.  Moreover,  Madero  was 
not  a  wise  president,  and  the  military  chiefs,  resembling 
the  feudal  barons  of  the  Middle  Ages,  began  a  reign 
of  terror  that  was  to  break  up  the  nation  into  groups 
of  bandits,  each  of  which  was  struggling  for  supreme 
power,  while  the  masses  were  robbed  and  starved,  out- 
raged and  even  massacred,  in  the  name  of  liberty. 

Madero 's  administration  was  short.  In  October,  1912, 
Feliz  Diaz,  nephew  of  the  ex-President,  organized  a  rev- 
olution, was  captured  and  throAvn  into  prison.  Later  he 
escaped  and  appeared  at  the  capital  with  a  large  army. 
In  February,  1913,  General  Victoriano  Huerta,  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  the  Madero  forces,  deserted  his  leader, 
led  his  army  into  the  capital,  forced  IMadero  to  resign, 
threw  him  into  prison,  and  a  few  days  later  permitted 
him,  with  a  few  of  his  loyal  supporters,  to  be  assassinated. 
Then  Huerta  was  proclaimed  President  by  his  army,  and 
the  first  hope  of  a  constitutional  government  for  IMexico 
was  destroyed.  Such  were  the  conditions  prevailing  in 
IMexico  on  March  4,  1913,  when  AVoodrow  Wilson  became 
President  of  the  United  States. 

The  revolution  had  been  in  progress  more  than  two 
years  when  President  Wilson  was  inaugurated.  Like 
his  predecessor  in  office,  however,  he  was  determined  to 
keep  hands  off  if  possible  and  let  the  contending  forces 
fight  it  out  alone.  Therefore,  his  first  act  was  one  looking 
to  neutrality.   Two  days  after  his  first  pronouncement  he 


202  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

asked  Congress  for  the  authority  to  prohibit  the  sale  of 
war  munitions  to  all  factions.  In  taking  this  step,  he  de- 
clared: "I  shall  follow  the  best  practice  of  the  nations 
in  the  matter  of  neutrality.  .  .  .  We  cannot  in  the 
circumstances  be  the  partisan  of  either  party  to  the  con- 
test that  now  distracts  Mexico,  or  constitute  ourselves 
the  virtual  umpire. ' ' 

However,  he  had  already  declared  that  ''we  can  have 
no  sympathy  with  those  who  seek  to  seize  the  power  of 
government  to  advance  their  own  personal  interests  and 
ambitions."  Therefore,  he  refused  to  recognize  Huerta, 
the  dictator,  or  any  other  faction  until  he  could  secure 
better  information  as  to  the  conditions  surrounding  the 
de  facto  government. 

Moreover,  he  was"  equally  determined  to  convince  the 
Latin- American  Republics  that  this  nation  is  the  friend 
of  constitutional  government;  that  it  will  treat  with  all 
republics  of  this  hemisphere  on  a  plane  of  equality ;  that 
it  will  never  again  seek  additional  territory  by  conquest ; 
that  it  will  not  lend  the  offices  of  this  government  to  pro- 
mote illegal  business  interests  in  foreign  countries,  and 
that  it  will  not  aid  or  encourage  revolutionists  or  revo- 
lutions in  any  of  the  Latin-American  states.  He  was 
now  to  be  put  to  the  test.  His  policies  were  being  grad- 
ually unfolded  and  he  was  steadfast  in  his  conviction 
that  "the  steady  pressure  of  moral  force  will  before 
many  days  break  down  the  barriers  of  pride  and  preju- 
dice, and  we  shall  triumph  as  Mexico 's  friend  sooner  than 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  203 

we  could  triumph  as  her  enemy — and  how  much  more 
handsomely,  with  how  much  higher  and  finer  satisfaction 
of  conscience  and  of  honor!" 

It  appeared,  however,  that  the  revolution  might  in- 
volve the  United  States  in  complications  due  to  lawless 
acts  on  the  part  of  all  the  contending  parties.  Moreover, 
European  nations  held  tremendous  business  interests  in 
Mexico,  and,  through  outrages  against  foreigners,  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  might  become  involved.  Therefore, 
President  Wilson  sent  I\Ir.  John  Lind,  ex-Governor  of 
Minnesota,  his  ''personal  spokesman  and  representa- 
tive to  the  City  of  Mexico. ' '  It  should  be  stated  here  that 
the  acts  of  the  American  Ambassador  to  Mexico  were  not 
entirely  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Wilson.  Therefore,  Mr. 
Lind  was  sent  to  Mexico,  with  instructions  to  press  very 
earnestly  upon  the  attention  of  those  who  were  exercis- 
ing authority  or  wielding  influence  in  Mexico  the  follow- 
ing considerations  and  advice : 

**The  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not 
feel  at  liberty  any  longer  to  stand  inactively  by 
while  it  becomes  daily  more  and  more  evident  that 
no  real  progress  is  being  made  to^vards  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Government  at  the  City  of  Mexico 
which  the  country  will  obey  and  respect. 

''The  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not 
stand  in  the  same  case  with  the  other  great  govern- 


204  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ments  of  the  world  in  respect  of  what  is  happening 
or  what  is  likely  to  happen  in  Mexico.  We  offer 
our  good  offices,  not  only  because  of  our  genuine 
desire  to  play  the  part  of  a  friend,  but  also  because 
we  are  expected  by  the  powers  of  the  world  to  act 
as  Mexico's  nearest  friend. 

^^We  wish  to  act  in  these  circumstances  in  the 
spirit  of  the  most  earnest  and  disinterested  friend- 
ship. It  is  our  purpose  in  whatever  we  do  or 
propose  in  this  perplexing  and  distressing  situa- 
tion not  only  to  pay  the  most  scrupulous  regard 
to  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  Mexico — 
that  we  take  as  a  matter  of  course  to  which  we 
are  bound  by  every  obligation  of  right  and  honor 
— ^but  also  to  give  every  possible  evidence  that  we 
act  in  the  interest  of  Mexico  alone,  and  not  in  the 
interest  of  any  person  or  body  of  persons  who 
may  have  personal  or  property  claims  in  Mexico 
which  they  may  feel  that  they  have  the  right  to 
press. 

^^We  are  seeking  to  counsel  Mexico  for  her  own 
good  and  in  the  interest  of  her  own  peace,  and  not 
for  any  other  purpose  whatsoever.  The  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  would  deem  itself  dis- 
credited if  it  had  any  selfish  or  ulterior  purpose 
in  transactions  where  the  peace,  happiness,  and 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  205 

prosperity  of  a  whole  people  are  involved.  It  is 
acting  as  its  friendship  for  Mexico,  not  as  any 
selfish  interest,  dictates. 

^'The  present  situation  in  Mexico  is  incom- 
patible with  the  fulfillment  of  international  obliga- 
tions on  the  part  of  Mexico,  with  the  civilized 
development  of  Mexico  herself,  and  with  the  main- 
tenance of  tolerable  political  and  economic  condi- 
tions in  Central  Mexico.  It  is  upon  no  common 
occasion,  therefore,  that  the  United  States  offers 
her  counsel  and  assistance.  All  America  cries 
out  for  a  settlement.'' 

He  then  advised  Mr.  Lind  to  say  to  the  factions  in 
Mexico  that  a  satisfactory  settlement  "seems  to  us  to 
be  conditioned"  on  the  following: 

1.  Immediate  cessation  of  fighting  throughout 
Mexico,  a  definite  armistice  solemnly  entered  into 
and  scrupulously  observed; 

2.  Security  given  for  an  early  and  free  election 
in  which  all  will  agree  to  take  part; 

3.  The  consent  of  General  Huerta  to  bind  him- 
self not  to  be  a  candidate  for  election  as  President 
of  the  Eepublic  at  this  election;  and 

4.  The  agreement  of  all  parties  to  abide  by  the 
results  of  the  election  and  cooperate  in  the  most 


206  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

loyal  way  in  organizing  and  supporting  the  new 
Administration. 

Mr.  Lind  was  also  instructed  to  assure  the  leaders  that 
the  Administration  "will  be  glad  to  play  any  part  in 
this  settlement  or  in  its  carrying  out  which  it  can  play 
honorably  and  consistently  with  international  rights." 
But  he  added,  if  Mexico  can  show  any  better  way  in 
which  this  government  can  "serve  the  people  of  Mex- 
ico and  meet  our  international  obligations,  we  are  more 
than  willing  to  consider  the  suggestions." 

Mr.  Wilson's  personal  representative  set  out  for  Mex- 
ico with  these  very  definite  instructions  both  for  Huerta 
and  for  the  opposing  leaders.  However,  instead  of  re- 
ceiving a  friendly  response  from  those  in  authority,  the 
ancient  fears  and  suspicions  and  hatred  of  the  Mexicans 
broke  out  anew.  They  seemed  to  feel  instinctively  that  if 
the  United  States  entered  Mexico,  the  history  of  seventy 
years  ago  might  be  repeated.  Therefore,  neither  faction 
would  accept  the  President 's  proffered  kindness.  Huerta, 
the  Dictator,  of  course,  rejected  the  proposals.  He  had 
been  led  to  believe  that  the  American  government  would 
recognize  him  as  President  of  Mexico.  But  when  these 
instructions  reached  him,  he  knew  there  was  no  aid  to 
be  desired  from  this  nation,  and  no  sympathy  from  Pres- 
ident Wilson.  His  hatred  for  the  American  government 
became  apparent ;  and  from  this  time  he  exhibited  a 
bitter  hostility  toward  all  Americans. 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  207 

The  opposing  leaders  also  rejected  the  proposals,  al- 
though the  proposals  were  in  harmony  with  what  the 
leaders  were  fighting  for.  The  leaders  were  evidently 
afraid  of  the  Greeks  bearing  gifts,  and  they  intimated  to 
Mr.  Lind  that  the  greatest  kindness  America  could  extend 
to  Mexico  would  be  to  let  their  country  absolutely  alone. 

^Ir.  Lind  remained  in  Mexico  several  weeks,  hoping 
to  convince  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  that  this  nation 
was  the  friend  of  the  Mexicans  and  desired  only  to  aid 
that  country  in  bringing  about  peace.  But  his  visit 
was  in  vain.  Neither  Huerta  nor  any  of  the  ' '  authorities 
at  the  City  of  Mexico"  would  accept  the  proffered  kind- 
ness of  this  government.  Therefore,  on  August  27,  1913, 
President  Wilson  appeared  before  Congress  and  gave 
to  that  body  ' '  the  facts  concerning  our  present  relations 
with  the  Republic  of  Mexico.'^ 

He  told  the  Senators  and  Members  of  his  great  desire 
to  aid  in  restoring  peace  and  order  to  Mexico  and  in 
seeing  self-government  really  established  in  that  war- 
distracted  country.    But  he  added : 

^'The  present  circumstances  of  the  republic,  I 
deeply  regret  to  say,  do  not  seem  to  promise  even 
the  foundations  of  such  a  peace.  We  have  waited 
many  months,  months  full  of  peril  and  anxiety, 
for  the  conditions  there  to  improve,  and  they  have 
not  improved.     They  have  growm  worse,  rather. 


208  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

The  territory  controlled  in  some  sort  by  the  provi- 
sional authorities  at  Mexico  City  has  grown 
smaller,  not  larger.  The  prospect  of  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  country,  even  by  arms,  has  seemed  to 
grow  more  and  more  remote;  and  its  pacification 
by  the  authorities  at  the  Capital  is  evidently  im- 
possible by  any  other  means  than  force.  Difficulties 
more  and  more  entangle  those  who  claim  to  con- 
stitute the  legitimate  government  of  the  republic. 
They  have  not  made  their  claim  in  fact.  Their 
successes  in  the  field  have  proved  only  temporary. 
War  and  disorder,  devastation  and  confusion, 
seem  to  threaten  to  become  the  settled  fortune  of 
the  distracted  country. 


>  > 


Mr.  Lind's  delicate  mission  and  the  proposals  sent  to 
the  leaders  in  Mexico  were  then  described.  But  the  Sen- 
ators and  IMembers  were  waiting  for  the  climax,  which 
came  when  the  President  told  them  that  all  of  his  pro- 
posals were  rejected  because  the  Mexicans  did  not  believe 
in  the  fairness  and  disinterestedness  of  the  American 
people.  Therefore,  they  did  not  believe  ''that  the  pres- 
ent Administration  spoke,  through  Mr.  Lind,  for  the 
people  of  the  United  States." 

There  was  some  justification,  too,  for  this  attitude  of 
the  Mexicans.  They  did  not  have  to  remember  the  I\Iex- 
ican  War  of  the  forties  for  proof.    All  they  had  to  do 


THE  XE\Y  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  209 

was  to  read  those  American  newspapers  that  were  clam- 
oring for  war  and  declaring  that  if  the  American  flag 
was  ever  raised  in  Mexico,  it  would  never  come  down. 
While  IMr.  Lind  was  in  ^lexico,  there  was  an  accumula- 
tion of  evidence  to  convince  a  foreigner  who  was  not 
fully  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, that  ]\rr.  Wilson  did  not  speak  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States. 

' '  The  effect  of  this  unfortunate  misunderstand- 
ing on  their  part,''  the  President  continued,  "is 
to  leave  tliem  singTilarly  isolated  and  Avithout 
friends  who  can  effectually  aid  them.  So  long  as 
the  misunderstanding  continues  ^ve  can  only  wait 
the  time  of  their  a^vakening  to  a  realization  of  the 
actual  facts.  "We  cannot  thrust  our  good  offices 
upon  them.  The  situation  must  be  given  a  little 
more  time  to  ^vork  itself  out  in  the  new  circum- 
stances, and  I  believe  that  only  a  little  time  will 
be  necessary;  for  the  circumstances  are  new. 
The  rejection  of  our  friendship  makes  them  new 
and  wall  inevitably  bring  its  owm  alteration  in  the 
aspect  of  affairs.  The  actual  situation  of  the 
authorities  in  Mexico  City  wall  presently  be 
revealed. 

**But  wdiat  is  it  our  duty  to  do?    It  is  now  our 
duty,"  he  said,  "to  show  w^hat  true  neutrality  will 


210  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

do  to  enable  the  people  of  Mexico  to  set  their 
affairs  in  order  again,  and  wait  for  a  further  op- 
portunity to  offer  our  friendly  counsel." 

However,  American  citizens  in  Mexico  and  non-com- 
batants in  general  would  suffer  from  the  increased  activ- 
ity of  the  contending  factions.  The  President  argued, 
however,  that  the  position  of  outsiders  is  always  par- 
ticularly trying  and  full  of  hazard  when  there  is  civil 
strife  and  the  whole  country  is  upset.  Therefore,  he 
advised  that  Americans  should  leave  Mexico. 

'^We  should  earnestly  urge  all  Americans  to 
leave  Mexico  at  once,  and  should  assist  them  to 
get  away  in  every  way  possible — not  because  we 
would  mean  to  slacken  in  the  least  our  efforts  to 
safeguard  their  lives  and  their  interests,  but  be- 
cause it  is  imperative  that  they  should  take  no 
unnecessary  risks  when  it  is  physically  possible 
for  them  to  leave  the  country.  We  should  let 
every  one  who  assumes  to  exercise  authority  in  any 
part  of  Mexico  know  in  the  most  unequivocal  way 
that  we  shall  vigilantly  watch  the  fortunes  of  those 
Americans  who  cannot  get  away,  and  shall  hold 
those  responsible  for  their  sufferings  and  losses 
to  a  definite  reckoning.     That  can  be  and  will  be 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  211 

made  plain  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  misunder- 
standing. 

''For  the  rest,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  exercise  the 
authority  conferred  upon  me  by  the  law  of  March 
4, 1912,  to  see  to  it  that  neither  side  to  the  struggle 
now  going  on  in  Mexico  receive  any  assistance 
from  this  side  of  the  border.  I  shall  follow  the 
best  practice  of  nations  in  the  matter  of  neutrality 
by  forbidding  the  exportation  of  arms  or  muni- 
tions of  war  of  any  kind  from  the  United  States  to 
any  part  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico — a  policy 
suggested  by  several  interesting  precedents  and 
certainly  dictated  by  many  manifest  considera- 
tions of  practical  expediency.  We  cannot  in  the 
circumstances  be  the  partisans  of  either  party  to 
the  contest  that  now  distracts  Mexico,  or  con- 
stitute ourselves  the  virtual  umpire  between  them. 

''I  am  happy  to  say  that  several  of  the  great 
Governments  of  the  world  have  given  this  Govern- 
ment their  generous  moral  support  in  urging  upon 
the  provisional  authorities  at  the  City  of  Mexico 
the  acceptance  of  our  proffered  good  offices  in  the 
spirit  in  which  they  were  made.  We  have  not 
acted  in  this  matter  under  the  ordinary  principles 
of  international  obligation.  All  the  world  expects 
us  in  such  circumstances  to  act  as  Mexico 's  nearest 


212  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

friend   and   intimate   adviser.      This   is   our   im- 
memorial relation  toward  her." 

In  the  main,  this  address  to  Congress  was  favorably 
received  by  the  American  people.  However,  a  consid- 
erable number  had  a  feeling  of  disgust  after  reading  it. 
Many  editorials  were  written  declaring  that  this  great 
and  powerful  nation  should  step  in  and  take  possession 
of  Mexico  and  hold  it,  until  the  IMexicans,  like  the 
Cubans,  could  become  a  self-governing  people.  More- 
over, there  were  many  extremists  who  openly  declared 
that  we  should  annex  Mexico  to  this  nation.  And  the 
controversy  waged  in  this  country.  Other  writers  asked 
what  right  have  we  to  annex  ]\Iexico?  Why  should 
American  lives  be  destroyed  in  order  to  protect  European 
and  American  interests  in  Mexico?  So  many  opinions 
were  expressed  pro  and  con  that  honest  Americans  might 
have  come  reasonably  to  the  Mexican  conclusion  that  an 
American  army  in  Mexico  would  mean  a  repetition  of  the 
acts  of  the  forties. 

Mr.  Wilson  knew  of  the  real  condition  of  the  people  in 
Mexico.  He  understood  their  fears  and  their  purposes, 
and  he  settled  down  to  a  ''watchful  waiting  policy" 
that  was  exasperating  to  the  annexationists. 

Neutrality  was  the  order  of  the  day.  An  embargo 
was  placed  on  arms,  and  the  Mexican  factions  were  let 
alone  and  left  to  destroy  one  another  until  their  madness 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  213 

should   pass.     These   acts  had  their  effect  on   General 
Huerta,  whose  power  seemed  to  be  gradually  waning. 

Two  months  later,  on  December  2,  1913,  President 
Wilson  appeared  at  the  Capitol  to  "give  Congress  in- 
formation of  the  state  of  the  Union."  He  explained  that 
his  policy  was  gradually  eliminating  Huerta  from  the 
Revolution.  The  Dictator's  power  was  declining,  and 
constitutional  government,  he  argued,  was  sure  to  win, 
and  this  was  being  accomplished  without  bloodshed  or 
loss  of  honor  to  Americans.     Then  he  added: 

*^  There  can  be  no  certain  prospects  of  peace  in 
America  until  General  Huerta  has  surrendered  his 
usurped  authority  in  Mexico;  until  it  is  under- 
stood on  all  hands,  indeed,  that  such  pretended 
governments  will  not  be  countenanced  or  dealt 
with  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States. ' ' 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  he  spoke  fully  of  his  opinion 
of  conditions  in  Mexico.  He  had  waited  until  he  could 
secure  complete  information. 

** Mexico  has  no  Government,"  he  spoke  with 
feeling.  ' '  The  attempt  to  maintain  one  at  the  City 
of  Mexico  has  broken  down,  and  a  mere  military 
despotism  has  been  set  up  which  has  hardly  more 
than  the  semblance  of  national  authority.  It 
originated  in  the  usurpation  of  Victoriano  Huerta, 


214      •  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

who,  after  a  brief  attempt  to  play  the  part  of  con- 
stitutional President,  has  at  last  cast  aside  even 
the  pretense  of  legal  right  and  declared  himself 
Dictator.  As  a  consequence,  a  condition  of  affairs 
now  exists  in  Mexico  which  has  made  it  doubtful 
whether  even  the  most  elementary  and  funda- 
mental rights  either  of  her  own  people  or  of  the 
citizens  of  other  countries  resident  within  her  ter- 
ritory can  long  be  successfully  safeguarded,  and 
which  threatens,  if  long  continued,  to  imperil  the 
interests  of  peace,  order,  and  tolerable  life  in  the 
lands  immediately  to  the  south  of  us. 

^  ^  Even  if  the  usurper  had  succeeded  in  his  pur- 
poses, in  despite  of  the  constitution  of  the  Republic 
and  the  rights  of  its  people,  he  would  have  set  up 
nothing  but  a  precarious  and  hateful  power  which 
could  have  lasted  but  a  little  while,  and  whose 
eventual  downfall  would  have  left  the  country  in 
a  more  deplorable  condition  than  ever.  But  he 
has  not  succeeded.  He  has  forfeited  the  respect 
and  the  moral  support  even  of  those  who  were  at 
one  time  willing  to  see  him  succeed.  Little  by 
little  he  has  been  completely  isolated.  By  a  little 
every  day  his  power  and  prestige  are  crumbling 
and  the  collapse  is  not  far  away.  We  shall  not,  I 
believe,  be  obliged  to  alter  our  policy  of  watchful 


TIIE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  215 

waiting.  And  then,  when  the  end  comes,  we  shall 
hope  to  see  constitutional  order  restored  in  dis- 
tressed Mexico  by  the  concert  and  energy  of  such 
of  her  leaders  as  prefer  the  liberty  of  their  people 
to  their  own  ambitions.'' 

While  President  Wilson  was  holding  to  his  watchful 
waiting  policy,  the  revolutionists  in  Mexico  were  destroy- 
ing private  property  of  American  and  European  owners. 
The  loss  of  the  oil  industry  of  the  British  was  especially 
great,  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  again  came  in  for  much 
discussion,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  But 
Lord  Haldane,  an  Englishman,  in  a  notable  addreSvS 
showed  that  the  British  statesmen  had  caught  the  spirit 
of  the  Wilson  Administration  and  the  deeper  meaning 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  when  he  declared,  ''all  who  live 
and  trade  on  the  great  American  continent  may  feel  that 
she  (the  United  States)  has  set  before  her  a  high  ideal 
to  secure  for  them  equally  with  her  own  subjects  that 
justice  and  righteousness  of  which  President  Wilson 
has  spoken."  And  ex-President  Taft  about  the  same 
time  referred  to  the  ]\Ionroe  Doctrine  as  one  of  our 
"greatest  national  assets"  and  urged  the  American  peo- 
ple to  uphold  President  Wilson  in  his  attitude  toward 
Mexico.  Then  public  sentiment  began  to  show  signs  of 
clearing  up. 

The  fact  that  the  United  States  refused  to  recognize 
Huerta  as  the  constitutional  President  of  ]\Iexico  insured 


216  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

his  defeat  in  the  end,  since  the  financial  centers  of  the 
world  were  exceedingly  shy  about  making  any  entangling 
alliances  with  him.  Huerta  was  by  nature  a  dictator, 
and  as  is  usually  the  case  with  such  rulers,  a  man  of 
considerable  force.  One  less  brave  would  have  been 
swept  awa}^  by  the  storm.  But  Huerta  held  on  with  a 
tenacity  that  was  exasperating  to  the  United  States  and 
disconcerting  to  his  enemies  in  his  own  country. 

The  revolution  began  in  the  attempt  to  destroy  abso- 
lutism and  restore  constitutional  government.  Therefore, 
as  long  as  Huerta  was  president,  there  seemed  to  be  no 
hope  for  the  nation.  Eea'lizing  this  fact,  and  seeing 
how  tenaciously  the  old  Dictator  held  on,  President  Wil- 
son changed  his  attitude  somewhat,  and  on  February  2, 
1914,  he  raised  the  embargo  on  arms  so  far  as  the  Con- 
stitutionalists were  concerned,  but  prohibited  the  expor- 
tation to  the  Huerta  government.  By  throwing  the  good 
will  of  the  nation  on  the  side  of  the  Constitutionalists, 
it  was  believed  that  Huerta  would  be  driven  from  the 
presidency  which  he  had  usurped. 

This  act,  however,  was  the  signal  for  the  old  Dictator 
to  exhibit  a  hatred  for  Americans  that  was  destined  to 
involve  this  nation  in  the  embroilment,  in  spite  of  the 
President's  firm  resolve  to  take  no  active  part  in  the 
revolution.  One  indignity  after  another  made  an  ac- 
cumulation of  outrages  that  called  for  a  prompt  response 
from  this  nation.  Therefore,  President  Wilson  appeared 
before  Congress  on  April  20,  1914,  and  told  the  story  of 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  217 

Huerta's  indignities  and  asked  for  permission  to  send 
an  armed  force  into  Mexico.  The  story  in  substance  is 
as  follows: 

On  April  9  a  paymaster  of  the  United  States  ship 
Dolphin;  while  engaged  in  official  duties,  w^as  arrested  in 
Tampico  by  a  squad  of  men  of  the  army  of  General 
Iluerta.  X  few  days  later  an  orderly  from  the  United 
States  ship  Minnesota  was  arrested  at  Vera  Cruz  while 
active  in  uniform  to  obtain  the  ship's  mail,  and  was 
thrown  into  jail.  Moreover,  an  official  dispatch  from 
this  government  to  IMexico  City  was  withheld  by  tel- 
egraphic authorities  until  preemptorily  demanded  by  the 
American  government. 

The  paymaster  of  the  Dolphin  was  released  by  Huerta 
and  apologies  and  expressions  of  regret  followed  from 
both  the  commander  at  Tampico  and  from  General 
Huerta.  However,  Admiral  IMayo,  in  command  of  the 
American  fleet,  thought  that  the  incident  called  for 
more  than  mere  apologies  and  expressions  of  regret. 
Therefore,  he  demanded  that  ''the  flag  of  the  United 
States  be  saluted  with  special  ceremony  by  the  military 
commander  of  the  port. ' '    Here  the  old  Dictator  balked. 

The  affair  remained  in  this  state  between  Huerta  and 
Admiral  Mayo  for  several  days.  In  the  meantime,  the 
other  indignities  mentioned  above  were  reported  to  the 
Administration.  On  the  18th,  President  Wilson  made 
peremptory  demand  that  the  salute  should  be  forth- 
coming on   the   following  day.      Still  the  old  Dictator 


218  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

refused  to  comply  with  the  demands  except  upon  certain 
conditions.  And  on  April  20,  eleven  days  after  the 
Tampico  incident,  Mr.  Wilson  appeared  before  Congress 
and  laid  the  story  of  these  indignities  before  the  Senators 
and  Members. 

*^So  far  as  I  can  learn/'  lie  said,  ^'such  wrongs 
and  annoyances  have  been  suffered  to  occur  only 
against  representatives  of  the  United  States.  I 
have  heard  of  no  complaints  from  other  Govern- 
ments of  similar  treatment.  Subsequent  explana- 
tions and  formal  apologies  did  not  and  could  not 
alter  the  popular  impression,  which  it  is  possible 
it  had  been  the  object  of  the  Huertista  authorities 
to  create,  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  was  being  singled  out,  and  might  be  singled 
out  with  impunity,  for  slights  and  affronts  in  re- 
taliation for  its  refusal  to  recognize  the  preten- 
sions of  General  Huerta  to  be  regarded  as  the  con- 
stitutional provisional  President  of  the  Eepublic 
of  Mexico." 

He  then  advised  Congress  that  this  nation  should  com- 
pel Huerta  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  Admiral 
Mayo. 

^*It  was  necessary,"  he  said,  **that  the  apologies 
of  General  Huerta  and  his  representatives  should 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  219 

go  miicli  further,  that  they  should  be  such  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  whole  population  to 
their  sigiiificance,  and  such  as  to  impress  upon 
General  Huerta  himself  the  necessity  of  seeing  to 
it  that  no  further  occasion  for  explanations  and 
professed  regrets  should  arise.  I,  therefore,  felt 
it  my  duty  to  sustain  Admiral  Mayo  in  the  whole 
of  his  demand  and  to  insist  that  the  flag  of  the 
United  States  should  be  saluted  in  such  a  way  as 
to  indicate  a  new  spirit  and  attitude  on  the  part 
of  the  Huertistas.'' 

Congress,  as  well  as  the  American  people,  were  assured 
that  this  governmeut  Avould  avoid  war  if  possible.  But 
if  armed  conflict  came,  ' '  We  should  be  fighting, ' '  he  said, 
''only  General  Huerta  and  those  who  adhere  to  him 
and  give  him  their  support." 

**No  doubt  I  could  do  what  is  necessary  in  the 
circumstances  to  enforce  respect  for  our  Govern- 
ment without  recourse  to  the  Congress,  and  yet  not 
exceed  my  constitutional  powers  as  President,  but 
I  do  not  wish  to  act  in  a  matter  possibly  of  so 
grave  consequence  except  in  close  conference  and 
cooperation  with  both  the  Senate  and  the  House. 
I,  therefore,  come  to  ask  your  approval  that  I 
should  use  the  armed  forces  of  the  United  States 


220  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

in  such  ways  and  to  such  an  extent  as  may  be 
necessary  to  obtain  from  General  Huerta  and  his 
adherents  the  fullest  recognition  of  the  rights  and 
dignity  of  the  United  States,  even  amidst  the  dis- 
tressing conditions  now  unhappily  obtaining  in 
Mexico." 

Again  the  President  assured  the  world  that 
^ '  there  can  in  what  we  do  be  no  thought  of  aggres- 
sion or  of  selfish  aggrandizement"  and  ^^our 
object  would  be  only  to  restore  to  the  people  of  the 
distracted  Eepublic  the  opportunity  to  set  up  again 
their  own  laws  and  their  own  government." 

Meanwhile  leaders  of  both  parties  in  Congress  had 
been  consulted  and  a  resolution  was  offered  declaring 
"that  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  justified  in 
the  employment  of  the  armed  forces  of  the  United  States 
to  enforce  demands"  made  upon  Huerta  for  a  failure  to 
make  amends  for  affronts  and  indignities  "committed 
against  this  government." 

There  was  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  a  few  Senators 
to  criticize  the  President  for  asking  for  the  use  of  force 
merely  because  of  the  indignities  to  the  flag.  It  was  in 
reply  to  these  criticisms  that  Senator  Root  of  New  York 
came  to  the  assistance  of  the  President  in  a  strong  ad- 
dress, in  which  he  said : 

The  insult  to  the  flag  is  but  a  part — the  culmination 


I  i 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  MEXICO  221 

of  a  long  series  of  violations  of  American  rights,  a  long 
series  of  violations  of  those  rights  which  it  is  the  duty 
of  our  country  to  protect — violation  not  for  the  most 
part  of  government,  but  made  possible  by  the  weakness 
of  government,  because  through  that  country  range  free- 
booters and  chieftains  like  the  captains  of  free  companies, 
without  control  or  responsibility.  Lying  back  of  this 
incident  is  a  condition  of  things  in  Mexico  which  abso- 
lutely prevents  the  protection  of  American  life  and  prop- 
erty, except  through  the  respect  for  the  American  flag, 
the  American  uniform,  the  American  government.  It 
is  that  which  gives  significance  to  the  demand  that  pub- 
lic respect  be  paid  to  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  There 
is  our  justification.  It  is  a  justification  lying  not  in 
Victoriana  Huerta  or  in  his  conduct,  but  in  the  universal 
condition  of  affairs  in  Mexico ;  and  the  real  object  to  be 
attained  by  the  course  which  we  are  asked  to  approve  is 
not  the  gratification  of  personal  pride.  It  is  not  the 
satisfaction  of  an  admiral  or  a  government.  It  is  the 
preservation  of  the  power  of  the  United  States  to  protect 
its  citizens  under  these  conditions." 

The  resolution  was  adopted  with  practical  unanimity. 
President  Wilson's  year  of  watchful  waiting  had  at  last 
come  to  a  close,  as  it  seemed,  and  many  declared  that 
the  American  flag  once  raised  over  Mexican  territory 
would  never  come  down. 

On  the  day  following  the  President's  address.  Ad- 
miral Fletcher  was  instructed  to  seize  the  customs  house 


222  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

at  Vera  Cruz.  A  desultory  resistance  was  offered  by 
the  Mexican  forces,  resulting  in  the  death  of  four 
of  our  men.  A  state  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  now  existed.  The  President  asked  for 
an  appropriation  of  a  half  million  dollars  ''to  bring  to 
their  homes  in  the  United  States  American  citizens  in 
Mexico."  Our  naval  forces  were  massed  on  the  Mex- 
ican coast,  an  army  was  at  last  landed  on  Mexican  soil, 
and  Vera  Cruz  was  soon  in  possession  of  the  American 
forces.  However,  the  American  army  ended  its  conquest 
with  the  fall  of  Vera  Cruz.  Good  government  was  re- 
stored to  the  city,  and  soon  it  became  as  peaceful  as  any 
American  city.    But  other  dangers  threatened. 

Notwithstanding  this  act,  which  the  President  and 
Congress  considered  necessary  to  protect  the  citizens  of 
America,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  war  on 
Huerta  would  aid  his  opponents,  the  Constitutionalists 
protested  vigorously  and  even  threatened  to  resist  the 
American  army  for  landing  on  Mexican  soil;  although 
they  were  neither  able  to  protect  American  citizens  nor 
dislodge  the  Dictator.  It  seemed  to  be  quite  evident, 
therefore,  that  America  was  powerless  to  aid  either  fac- 
tion, and  that  to  make  war  on  one  would  unify  all 
factions  and  produce  a  solid  resistance  to  America.  The 
ancient  hatred  of  the  Mexican  for  the  Americans  was 
still  greater  than  the  hatred  of  one  faction  for  another. 

When  President  Wilson  ordered  the  Atlantic  fleet  to 
Vera  Cruz,  however,  he  started  a  series  of  events  which. 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  ^lEXICO  223 

to  the  ordinary  mind,  meant  war  in  Mexico.  The  annex- 
ationists  really  did  rejoice  for  the  time  being.  But  the 
real  friends  of  peace  had  a  feeling  of  amazement  and 
mortification,  while  others  sought  to  make  political  cap- 
ital out  of  the  incident.  However,  the  day  after  the 
occupation  of  Vera  Cruz  by  the  American  forces,  a  new 
factor  appeared — one  that  was  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  relations  between  America  and  all  the  Latin- 
American  Republics. 

On  April  25  the  diplomatic  representatives  at  Washing- 
ton of  Argentina,  Brazil  and  Chile  made  a  formal  offer 
of  the  good  offices  of  their  respective  governments  to 
bring  about  a  peaceful  and  friendly  settlement  of  the 
controversy  between  the  Government  of  Mexico  and  the 
United  States.  This  act  showed  the  beneficial  effects  of 
the  President's  unselfish  policy  in  the  South  American 
Republic.  It  was,  at  last,  making  a  greater  Pan  American 
union  possible  and  giving  a  new  meaning  to  the 
Monroe  Doctrine. 

The  South  Americans  were  the  kinsmen  of  the  Mex- 
icans, and  the  people  of  this  southern  continent  were 
convinced  now  that  the  United  States,  as  long  as  Wood- 
row  Wilson  was  President,  would  not  make  a  war  of 
conquest  on  Mexico.  Moreover,  they  realized  that 
President  Wilson  was  keeping  steadily  in  view  his  pur- 
pose, by  peace  if  he  could,  by  war  if  he  must,  to  work 
an  issue  honorable  for  the  United  States  and  as  beneficial 
as  possible  to  Mexico.    Therefore,  the  tender  of  the  good 


224  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

offices  of  Argentine,  Brazil  and  Chile  prophesied  better 
things  for  Mexico  and  a  better  relation  between  the 
United  States  and  the  South  American  Republics. 

The  President,  therefore,  very  promptly  accepted  the 
offer  of  the  South  American  Republics,  and  on  May  20, 
1914,  the  A.  B.  C.  Mediators,  as  they  were  called,  began 
their  conference  at  Niagara  Falls.  Both  the  United 
States  and  Huerta  's  government  also  had  representatives 
present. 

Although  the  President  had  been  subjected  to  the 
fiercest  criticism  because  of  his  Mexican  policy,  he  showed 
no  signs  that  the  criticism  sank  into  his  soal  until  he 
stood  in  the  presence  of  the  dead  sailors  killed  in  Vera 
Cruz.  In  a  short  speech  he  gave  expression  to  a  senti- 
ment as  well  as  to  his  feelings  that  touched  those  who 
read  it. 

''I  never  went  into  battle,  I  never  was  under 
fire/'  he  said,  ^'but  I  fancy  that  there  are  some 
things  just  as  hard  to  do  as  to  go  under  fire.  I 
fancy  that  it  is  just  as  hard  to  do  your  duty  when 
men  are  sneering  at  you  as  when  they  are  shooting 
at  you.  When  they  shoot  at  you,  they  can  only 
take  your  natural  life;  when  they  sneer  at  you, 
they  can  wound  your  heart. ' ' 

Although  Vera  Cruz  was  seized  hy  American  forces, 
President  Wilson  took  every  possible  public  occasion  to 


THE  NEW  POLICY  ArPLIED  TO  ^lEXICO  225 

assure  the  American  people  tliat  there  was  something 
even  greater  and  more  heroic  for  the  United  States  to 
do  than  to  go  to  war  with  either  faction  in  Mexico,  and 
that  while  force  had  been  used,  he  was  steadfast  in  his 
belief  that  the  "moral  compulsions  of  the  human  con- 
science" would  at  last  triumph  over  war.  However,  there 
were  many  Americans  who  wanted  more  war.  They  in- 
sisted that  the  American  army  should  go  on  to  ^Mexico 
City.  They  sneered  at  the  proffered  services  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  Mediators  and  abused  the  President  for  accept- 
ing them. 

But  in  an  address  June  5  to  the  naval  cadets  at  Annap- 
olis, he  showed  that  he  had  no  thought  of  going  further 
with  the  war,  if  it  could  be  avoided. 

^^What  do  you  think  is  tlie  most  lasting  impres- 
sion that  these  boys  down  at  Vera  Cruz  are  going 
to  leave?  They  have  liad  to  use  some  force — I 
pray  to  God  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  tliem  to 
use  any  more — but  do  you  tliink  that  the  way  they 
fought  is  going  to  be  the  most  lasting  impression? 
Have  men  not  fought  ever  since  the  ^vorld  began? 
Is  there  anything  new^  in  using  force?  The  new 
things  in  the  world  are  the  things  that  are 
divorced  from  force.  The  things  that  show^  the 
moral  compulsions  of  the  human  conscience,  these 
are  the  things  by  which  we  have  been  building  up 


226  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

civilization,  not  by  force.  And  the  lasting  impres- 
sion that  those  boys  are  going  to  leave  is  this, 
that  they  exercise  self-control ;  that  they  were  dili- 
gent and  ready  to  make  the  place  where  they  went 
fitter  to  live  in  than  they  found  it;  that  they  re- 
garded other  people's  rights;  that  they  did  not 
strut  and  bluster,  but  went  quietly,  like  self- 
respecting  gentlemen,  about  their  legitimate  work. 
And  the  people  of  Vera  Cruz,  who  feared  the 
Americans  and  despised  the  Americans,  are  going 
to  get  a  very  different  taste  in  their  mouths  when 
the  boys  of  the  navy  and  the  army  come  away. 
Is  that  not  something  to  be  proud  of,  that  you 
know  how  to  use  force  like  men  of  conscience  and 
like  gentlemen  serving  your  fellow-men  and  not 
trying  to  overcome  them?" 

President  Wilson  was  evidently  establishing  an  un- 
usual precedent.  The  annexationists  in  America  could 
not  understand  his  language,  nor  appreciate  his  purpose. 
They  believed  that  war  would  settle  war  and  why  the 
United  States  hesitated  to  march  on  to  the  capital  of 
Mexico  was  beyond  their  comprehension. 

In  the  meantime  the  A.  B.  C.  Mediators  were  making 
progress.  Although  the  task  of  establishing  individual 
peace  in  Mexico  was  almost  a  hopeless  one  from  the  be- 
ginning, it  was  made  clear  to  the  Latin-American  states 


THE  NEW  POLICY  APPLIED  TO  :MEXIC0  227 

that  peace  was  impossible  wliile  Iluerta  remained  in 
authority.  The  American  government  would  not  be  sat- 
isfied now  with  a  compliance  of  Admiral  ^layo's  demands. 
The  old  Dictator  must  abdicate  and  give  the  friends  of 
constitutional  government  a  chance  to  restore  peace  and 
order.  And  on  June  11,  the  peace  conferees  announced 
that  they  had  agreed  on  the  transfer  of  authority  in 
Mexico  and  the  establishment  of  a  new  government. 
Not  until  then  did  General  Carranza,  chief  of  the  Con- 
stitutionalists, consent  to  send  representatives  to  the 
Conference. 

The  Niagara  Conference  came  to  a  close  on  July  1. 
It  was  agreed  in  a  protocol  that  Huerta  must  not  stand  in 
the  way  of  constitutional  government,  or,  in  other  words, 
that  he  must  abdicate.  On  the  other  hand,  the  United 
States  was  bound  to  recognize  the  provisional  government 
to  be  set  up  in  Mexico  through  the  offices  of  the  confer- 
ence, to  restore  diplomatic  relations  with  Mexico  and  to 
exact  no  indemnity  whatever,  but  Mexico  was  to  agree  to 
take  measures  for  the  payment  of  all  just  claims  for  the 
destruction  of  the  property  of  foreign  residents.  And 
the  withdrawal  of  the  American  troops  from  Vera  Cruz 
was  left  to  a  future  agreement.  Although  the  agreement 
among  the  mediators  and  the  delegates  had  no  legal 
force,  as  a  treaty  would  have  between  well  established 
governments,  it  did  have  a  tremendous  moral  effect. 

jMeanwhile  the  Constitutionalists  were  very  active. 
Thev  were  drawing  their  forces  nearer  and  nearer  to 


228  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  Capital.  The  attitude  of  the  American  Government 
to  them  made  it  easy  for  them  to  secure  the  supplies 
they  needed. 

The  conference  was  adjourned,  the  Constitutionalists 
were  more  and  more  successful,  and  the  nations  were 
waiting  for  something  to  happen.  There  was  much 
speculation  as  to  what  Huerta  would  do  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. On  July  5,  he  was  reelected  president. 
But  three  days  later  he  presented  the  protocol  to  the 
Mexican  Congress  and  on  the  15th  he  delivered  his 
formal  address  to  the  two  houses  of  the  Mexican  Congress 
and  left  his  native  country  forever. 

President  Wilson's  policy  had  at  last  succeeded,  and 
it  was  now  in  great  favor.  The  nations  of  the  world 
v/ere  applauding.  ' '  The  steady  pressure  of  moral  force ' ' 
was  breaking  down  the  barriers  of  pride  and  prejudice, 
and  it  seemed  that  we  were  about  to  triumph  as  Mexico 's 
friend. 


^ 


CHAPTER  XI 

PRESIDENT    WILSON'S    RELATIONS    WITH 
GENERAL  CARRANZA 

There  was  a  sigh  of  relief  in  America  when  Huerta 
abdicated.  But  many  people  in  this  country  believed 
that  he  was  the  only  man  with  sufficient  nerve  and 
shrewdness  to  keep  the  Mexican  bandits  down.  This 
was  also  the  view  of  many  foreigners  then  living  in 
]\Iexico. 

His  abdication  left  the  country  really  in  the  hands  of 
the  Constitutionalists.  General  Venustiano  Carranza  had 
been  First  Chief  of  the  Constitutionalists  since  the  death 
of  Francisco  Madero,  and  he  at  once  became  the  central 
figure  of  jMexico.  But  there  were  two  other  Constitu- 
tionalists in  ]\Iexico  whom  General  Carranza  had  to 
reckon  with,  General  Francisco  Villa  and  General 
Zapata.  The  Constitutionalists  were  by  no  means  united 
and  the  character  of  both  Villa  and  of  Zapata  was  such 
that  little  hope  was  entertained  of  a  peaceful  settlement 
without  further  bloodshed. 

There  was  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  however,  and  on 

August  20  General  Carranza  made  his  triumphal  entry 

into  ^Mexico  City.     It  was  a  peaceful  en^.y.     The  city 

900 


230  WOODROW  \MLSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

« 
was  prepared  for  his  coming.     Crowds  came  out  to  wel- 

come  him  and  flowers  were  strewn  in  his  path.    And  as 

he  marched  into  the  city  he  was  hailed  as  the  liberator 

of  the  people.     And  for  the  second  time  constitutional 

government  seemed  to  be  ready  to  enter  upon  its  rights 

and  find  an  abiding  place  in  the  ancient  capital  of  the 

Montezumas. 

It  was  for  this  that  the  American  government  had 
been  waiting  rather  impatiently.  Then  the  American 
flag  was  lowered  at  Vera  Cruz  (September  15),  and  the 
American  army  was  transported  back  to  American  soil. 
Thus  ended  our  "little  war"  in  Mexico,  and  it  was 
believed  for  the  time  that  President  Wilson 's  '  *  watchful 
waiting"  policy  would  triumph  in  the  end.  However, 
the  distracted  country  had  not  yet  suffered  enough.  The 
pentecost  of  calamity  was  still  incomplete. 

On  September  15  General  Carranza  expressed  his  in- 
tention to  turn  over  the  control  of  the  Mexican  govern- 
ment to  a  provisional  President,  to  be  selected  by  the 
Constitutionalists  and  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  pres- 
idency. The  other  leaders  had  no  love  for  Carranza,  nor 
he  for  them.  He  was  characterized  as  a  narrow,  selfish 
man,  somewhat  of  a  patriot  and  an  idealist,  but  possess- 
ing an  individual  greed  for  power  and  an  intense  hatred 
of  all  foreigners,  including  Americans.  The  other  two 
leaders  had  a  history  of  lawlessness  and  bandit  warfare 
to  their  credit  that  made  them  objectionable  to  any  civil- 
ized country. 


EELATIOXS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRAXZA     231 

When  General  Carranza's  pro-am  was  announced, 
Villa  and  Zapata  made  common  cause,  and  on  September 
23  declared  war  against  him.  Thus  the  bitter  struggle 
was  resumed.  Meanwhile,  President  Wilson  fell  back 
on  his  "watchful  waiting"  policy  and  showed  a  deter- 
mination to  let  the  warring  factions  fight  out  their 
differences  without  interference  from  this  country. 

Again  there  was  a  loud  demand  for  intervention.  Some 
wanted  the  President  to  recognize  Carranza  and  throw 
the  weight  of  this  country  on  his  side.  Others  insisted 
that  Villa,  whose  daring  exploits  in  the  North  were  well 
known,  was  the  real  patriot  and  that  he  should  be  rec- 
ognized and  encouraged.  But  the  President  announced 
his  purpose  of  keeping  this  country  neutral  in  the  new 
war. 

I\Ir.  Samuel  G.  Blythe  published  in  the  Saturday 
Evening  Post  an  authorized  interview  with  President 
Wilson,  in  which  he  explained  why  he  was  determined 
not  to  interfere  in  the  settlement  of  old  abuses  in  Mexico. 

^^It  is  a  curious  thing,''  lie  said,  ^Hliat  every 
demand  for  the  establishment  of  order  in  Mexico 
takes  into  consideration,  not  order  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people  of  Mexico,  the  great  mass  of  the 
population,  but  order  for  the  benefit  of  the  old- 
time  regime,  for  the  aristocrats,  for  the  vested 
interests^  for  the  men  who  are  responsible  for  this 


232  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

very  condition  of  disorder.  No  one  asks  for  order 
because  order  will  help  the  masses  of  the  people 
to  get  a  portion  of  their  rights  and  their  land; 
but  all  demand  it  so  that  the  great  owners  of 
property,  tlie  overlords,  the  hidalgos,  the  men  wiio 
have  exploited  that  rich  country  for  their  own 
selfish  purposes,  shall  be  able  to  continue  their 
processes  undisturbed  by  the  protests  of  the  people 
from  whom  their  wealth  and  power  have  been 
obtained.'' 

Neutrality  was  more  difficult  to  maintain  now  because 
of  the  European  war,  which  seemed  to  arouse  the  fight- 
ing instinct  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Therefore, 
every  new  story  of  indignities  to  Americans  or  to  the 
American  flag  that  found  its  way  across  the  border  from 
Mexico  was  seized  upon  by  those  who  had  favored  inter- 
vention from  the  beginning  and  trailed  through  the 
newspapers  to  arouse  the  Americans.  As  this  factional 
warfare  continued,  the  American  border  was  harrassed 
by  roving  bandits  and  the  stories  of  outrages  inflicted 
on  Americans  were  multiplied.  However,  President  Wil- 
son adhered  to  his  ''watchful  waiting"  policy.  He  had 
by  peaceful  means  rid  Mexico  of  its  Dictator,  and  he 
was  firm  in  his  conviction  that  non-interference  would 
cause  the  United  States  to  triumph  in  the  end  as  Mexico 's 
friend,    and   that   constitutional   government   after   the 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     233 

pentecost  would  be  more  enduring  than  any  temporary 
peace  that  might  be  forced  on  ^Mexico  through  a  bloody 
intervention. 

The  press  in  many  sections  of  the  country  was  relent- 
less in  its  condemnation  of  the  President.  American 
property  was  being  destroyed.  American  citizens  were 
outraged.  Moreover,  the  balance  of  the  civilized  world 
was  at  war,  and  the  United  States  was  the  only  great 
nation  whose  armies  were  not  active.  So  severe  was  the 
abuse  that  President  Wilson,  in  an  address  before  the 
Jackson  Club  of  Indianapolis,  January,  1915,  gave  a 
curt  reply  to  his  critics : 

''I  want  to  say  a  word  about  Mexico/'  he  said, 
^^not  so  much  about  Mexico  as  about  our  attitude 
towards  Mexico.  I  hold  it  as  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple, and  so  do  you,  that  every  people  has  the 
right  to  determine  its  own  form  of  government, 
and  until  this  recent  revolution  in  Mexico,  until 
the  end  of  the  Diaz  regime,  eighty  per  cent  of  the 
people  of  Mexico  never  had  a  ^look  in'  in  deter- 
mining who  should  be  their  governors,  or  what 
their  government  should  be.  Now,  I  am  for  the 
eighty  per  cent.  It  is  none  of  my  business,  and  it 
is  none  of  your  business  how  long  they  take  in 
determining  it.  It  is  none  of  my  business  and 
it  is  none  of  your  business  how  they  go  about  the 


234  VVOODROW  WILSON  AS  PllESlDENT 

business.  The  country  is  theirs.  The  government 
is  theirs.  The  liberty,  if  they  can  get  it,  and  God 
speed  them  in  getting  it,  is  theirs.  And  so  far  as 
my  influence  goes,  while  I  am  President,  nobody 
shall  interfere  with  them. 

^^Do  you  suppose  that  the  American  people  are 
ever  going  to  count  a  small  amount  of  material 
benefit  and  advantage  to  people  doing  business  in 
Mexico  against  the  liberty  and  permanent  happi- 
ness of  the  Mexican  people?  Have  not  European 
nations  taken  as  long  as  they  wanted  and  spilt  as 
much  blood  as  they  pleased  in  settling  their 
affairs,  and  shall  we  deny  that  to  Mexico  because 
she  is  weak?  No,  I  say,  I  am  proud  to  belong  to 
a  strong  nation  that  says,  ^Tliis  country,  which 
we  could  crush,  shall  have  just  as  much  freedom  in 
her  own  affairs  as  we  have.  If  I  am  strong  I  am 
ashamed  to  bully  the  weak.  In  proportion  to  my 
strength  is  my  pride  in  withholding  that  strength 
from  the  oppression  of  another  people.'  And  I 
know  when  I  speak  these  things,  not  merely  from 
the  gracious  response  with  which  they  have  just 
met  from  you,  but  from  my  long  time  knowledge 
of  the  American  people,  that  that  is  the  sentiment 
of  the  American  people. ' ' 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     235 

However,  the  infinite  capacity  of  the  ^Mexican  leaders 
to  quarrel  and  scrap,  and  of  the  people  to  endure  op- 
pression and  to  suffer  the  extremes  of  distress,  was  draw- 
ing heavily  on  the  President's  patience.  The  innumer- 
able stories  that  came  up  from  the  border  contained  some 
real  accounts  of  positive  outrages ;  and  the  factions  were 
po^verless  to  protect  the  American  border  states.  It  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  Administration  sifted  the  real 
from  the  false.  Moreover,  coupled  with  these  realities, 
came  stories  of  intolerable  conditions  in  Mexico,  due  to 
disease  and  famine,  that  arose  as  a  protest  against  the 
long  struggle  between  the  w^arring  factions.  There  was 
no  central  authority  in  Mexico  with  which  this  nation 
could  treat,  and  the  end  of  the  revolution  seemed  to  be 
farther  away  than  it  appeared  to  be  when  President  Wil- 
son was  inaugurated. 

After  waiting  all  spring  for  the  chiefs  to  put  an  end 
to  their  differences,  President  Wilson,  on  June  2,  1915, 
announced  that  he  was  preparing  to  alter  his  w^atchful 
waiting  policy.  In  an  address  issued  to  the  American 
people,  he  said: 

*^For  more  than  two  years  revolutionary  condi- 
tions have  existed  in  Mexico.  The  purpose  of  the 
revolution  was  to  rid  Mexico  of  men  who  ignored 
the  Constitution  of  the  Republic  and  used  their 
power  in  contempt  of  the  rights  of  its  people,  and 
with   these   purposes   the  people   of  the   United 


236  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

States  instinctively  and  generously  sympathized. 
But  the  leaders  of  the  revolution,  in  the  very  hour 
of  their  success,  have  disagreed  and  turned  their 
arms  against  one  another.  All  professing  the 
same  objects,  they  are,  nevertheless,  unable  or 
unwilling  to  cooperate.  A  central  authority  at 
Mexico  City  is  no  sooner  set  up  than  it  is  under- 
mined and  its  authority  denied  by  those  who  were 
expected  to  support  it. 

*^  Mexico  is  apparently  no  nearer  a  solution  of 
her  tragical  troubles  than  she  was  when  the  revolu- 
tion was  first  kindled.  And  she  has  been  swept 
by  civil  war  as  if  by  fire.  Her  crops  are  destroyed, 
her  fields  lie  unseeded,  her  people  flee  to  the  moun- 
tains to  escape  being  drawn  into  unavailing  blood- 
shed, and  no  man  seems  to  see  or  lead  the  way  to 
peace  and  settled  order.  There  is  no  proper  pro- 
tection, either,  for  her  own  citizens,  or  for  the 
citizens  of  other  nations  resident  and  at  work 
within  her  territories.  Mexico  is  starving  and 
without  a  government. 

^'In  these  circumstances  the  people  and  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  stand 
indifferently  by  and  do  nothing  to  serve  their 
neighbor.  They  want  nothing  for  themselves  in 
Mexico.    Least  of  all  do  they  desire  to  settle  her 


RELATIONS  WITH   GENERAL  CARRANZA     237 

affairs  for  lier,  or  claim  any  riglit  to  do  so.  But 
neither  do  they  wish  to  see  utter  ruin  come  upon 
her,  and  they  deem  it  their  duty  as  friends  and 
neighbors  to  lend  any  aid  they  properly  can  to 
any  instrumentality  which  promises  to  be  effective 
in  bringing  about  a  settlement  which  will  embody 
the  real  object  of  the  revolution — constitutional 
government  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 

^'Patriotic  Mexicans  are  sick  at  heart  and  cry 
out  for  peace  and  for  every  self-sacrifice  that  may 
be  necessary  to  procure  it.  Their  people  cry  out 
for  food  and  will  presently  hate  as  much  as  they 
fear  every  man  in  their  country  or  out  of  it  who 
stands  between  them  and  their  daily  bread. 

^'And  it  is  time,  therefore,  that  the  government 
of  the  United  States  should  frankly  state  the 
policies  which  in  these  extraordinary  circum- 
stances, it  becomes  its  duty  to  adopt.  It  must 
presently  do  what  it  has  not  hitherto  done  or  felt 
at  libertv  to  do,  lend  its  active  moral  support  to 
some  men  or  group  of  men,  if  such  may  be  found, 
who  can  rally  the  suffering  people  of  Mexico  to 
their  support  in  an  effort  to  ignore,  if  they  cannot 
unite,  the  warring  factions  of  the  country,  return 
to  the  constitution  of  the  republic  so  long  in  abey- 
ance, and  set  up  a  government  at  Mexico  City 


238  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Avbich  the  groat  powers  of  the  world  can  recognize 
and  deal  with — a  government  with  whom  the  pro- 
gram of  the  revolution  will  be  a  business  and 
not  merely  a  platform. 

**I,  therefore,  publicly  and  very  solemnly,  call 
upon  the  leaders  of  factions  in  Mexico  to  act,  to 
act  together,  and  to  act  promptly  for  the  relief 
and  redemption  of  their  prostrate  country.  I  feel 
it  to  be  my  duty  to  tell  them,  if  they  cannot  accom- 
modate their  differences  and  unite  for  this  great 
purpose  within  a  short  time,  this  government  will 
be  constrained  to  decide  what  means  should  be 
employed  by  the  United  States  in  order  to  help 
Mexico  save  herself  and  serve  her  people.'' 

This  address  was  the  signal  for  renewed  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  combatants.  They  seemed  to  be  playing 
to  the  American  galleries  and  watching  for  approval 
from  the  American  administration.  During  the  month 
of  June,  so  variable  were  the  fortunes  of  war  that  the 
Mexican  capital  changed  hands  three  different  times.  The 
President,  therefore,  decided  to  act. 

In  August  diplomatic  representatives  at  Washington 
of  six  of  the  Republics  of  Central  and  South  America 
met  with  the  Secretary  of  State  to  discuss  again  means 
for  ending  the  chaos  in  Mexico.  The  result  was  an  appeal 
by  the  seven  diplomats  (August  14)  to  certain  Mexicans 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     239 

who  possessed  authority  or  power.  It  proposed  a  con- 
ference of  those  directing  the  armed  movements  in  Mex- 
ico and  offered  help  in  adjusting  the  differences  between 
the  warring  factions. 

General  Villa  accepted  at  once  the  proposals,  and  for 
a  time  he  was  a  popular  hero  in  America,  regardless  of 
his  past  life.  But  General  Carranza  rejected  all  pro- 
posals and  pointed  out  the  dangers  which  might  ensue 
from  anv  interference.  He  believed  that  the  Mexicans 
must  fight  it  out  alone  and  his  suspicion  of  all  foreigners 
would  not  permit  him  to  consent  for  this  country  to  aid 
in  settling  the  difficulties. 

The  diplomats,  however,  met  again  on  September  18, 
1915,  and  agreed  to  recognize  the  leader  who  at  the  end 
of  three  weeks  had  best  demonstrated  his  ability  to  main- 
tain order.  Accordingly,  on  October  19,  the  United 
States  and  eight  of  the  Republics  of  Central  and  South 
America  extended  formal  recognition  to  General  Car- 
ranza. That  meant,  of  course,  that  the  good  will  of  the 
nations  was  thrown  against  all  other  factions  in  Mexico, 
including  Villa,  the  soldier  of  fortune,  who  had  had  such 
a  spectacular  career. 

Thus,  after  more  than  a  year  of  factional  strife.  Gen- 
eral Carranza  was  recognized  as  the  head  of  the  de  facto 
government.  He  seemed  to  be  the  only  leader  with  suf- 
ficient patriotism  to  restore  order.  The  distressed  coun- 
try was  sorely  in  need  of  a  patriot  who  could  and  would 
restore   constitutional   government   to  Mexico.     Bandit 


240  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

chieftains  had  plundered  the  country  long  enough.  The 
Republics  of  the  two  Americas,  acting  jointly,  therefore 
chose  General  Carranza  for  the  delicate  and  very  respon- 
sible undertaking. 

To  the  careful  students  of  the  Mexican  revolution,  it 
had  become  a  settled  conviction  that  permanent  order 
must  come  tlirough  the  leadership  of  a  real  i\Iexican 
patriot,  and  not  through  intervention.  Three  of  the 
Latin-American  Republics  aided  the  United  States  in 
dethroning  Huerta,  the  Dictator.  But  since  that  time, 
the  President  had  convinced  the  Republics  of  this  hemi- 
sphere that  he  was  standing  firmly  by  his  early  policy 
to  see  right  and  justice  prevail,  regardless  of  the  tem- 
porary inconveniences  to  the  border  states  or  the  loss  of 
foreign  business  in  Mexico.  This  spirit  of  fair  play  had 
at  last  won  over  eight  of  the  Latin- American  Republics, 
which  were  now  fully  convinced  that  the  great  American 
nation  would  exercise  patience  with  the  weak  and  dis- 
tressed Mexican  republic.  A  Pan  American  union  was 
now  possible,  and  even  the  Mexican  people,  who  two 
years  before  would  not  even  consider  President  Wilson's 
proposals,  seemed  now  to  be  in  a  state  of  mind  to  listen 
to  advice. 

The  recognition  of  General  Carranza  as  head  of  the 
de  facto  government  in  Mexico  greatly  strengthened  his 
position.  lie  now  had  the  advantage  over  all  tlie  fac- 
tional chiefs  who  were  hostile  to  him,  since  they  were 
unable  to  buy  easily  and  legally  munitions  of  war.    Con- 


RELATIOXS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRAXZA     241 

sequently,  many  of  the  factional  soldiery  of  IMexico  went 
over  to  his  standard,  taking  solid  regiments  with  them. 
However,  General  Francisco  Villa,  perhaps  the  ablest 
military  chieftain  in  ]Mexico,  lost  both  prestige  and 
power,  and  as  he  saw  his  rival  rising  because  of  the  ad- 
vantage given  him  by  this  nation  especially,  he,  like 
Huerta,  the  Dictator,  became  the  more  desperate  and 
dangerous,  breathing  out  insane  threats  against  all 
Americans. 

The  savage  nature  of  the  man  who  had  risen  from  a 
peon  to  a  general  of  recognized  ability,  broke  out  in  all 
of  its  primitive  bitterness,  and  he  followed  up  his  threats 
with  lawless  acts  of  such  violence  that  the  entire  Amer- 
ican border  was  thrown  into  a  state  of  confusion.  His 
stronghold  was  the  Province  of  Chihuahua,  that  borders 
the  states  of  Texas  and  New  Mexico.  General  Carranza 
seemed  powerless  to  curb  his  bloody  deeds  or  to  protect 
the  American  border.  Shocking  murders  of  American 
mining  men  in  Mexico  were  reported.  Ranches  and  set- 
tlements were  looted,  and  as  Villa  moved  northward 
toward  the  Rio  Grande,  El  Paso  and  other  American 
towns  were  thrown  into  a  state  of  panic. 

The  Administration  was  giving  General  Carranza  a 
fair  opportunity  to  restore  order.  At  the  same  time  the 
American  troops  stationed  along  the  border  were  warned 
as  to  the  designs  of  the  bandits  to  wreak  vengeance  on 
American  citizens.  As  Villa's  insane  hatred  for  Amer- 
icans increased,  it  became  more  and  more  apparent  that 


242  WOODROW  WILSON  A8  PRESIDENT 

this  nation  would  be  compelled  to  act  in  self-defense. 
This  seemed  to  be  what  Villa  desired  above  everything 
else.  The  American  army  in  ]\Iexico  might  so  inflame 
the  Mexicans  that  even  Carranza's  leadership  would  be 
destroyed.  His  army,  therefore,  was  turned  against 
America  now,  rather  than  against  his  old  enemy. 

It  was  known  to  the  American  government  early  in 
March,  1916,  that  Villa  was  perhaps  planning  to  attack 
certain  American  towns.  He  seemed  to  be  headed  to- 
wards Columbus,  New  IMexico,  one  of  the  more  than 
forty  points  along  the  border  which  formed  headquarters 
or  centers  for  detachments  of  American  soldiers.  The 
authorities  of  Columbus  were  even  warned  as  to  Villa's 
designs. 

On  the  night  of  ]\Iarch  9  the  bandits,  like  a  cyclone, 
struck  the  little  town.  The  inhabitants  and  the  garrison 
were  unprepared.  After  some  confusion,  however,  the 
soldiers  drove  the  Mexicans  across  the  border  and,  pur- 
suing, killed  about  sixty  of  them.  But  Villa  and  his 
bandits  made  good  their  escape — leaving  about  twenty 
soldiers  and  citizens  of  Columbus  slain. 

The  Administration  acted  promptly.  On  the  day  after 
the  raid,  the  following  statement  was  issued  from  the 
White  House: 

^^An  adequate  force  will  be  sent  at  once  in  pur- 
suit of  Villa,  with  the  single  object  of  capturing 
him  and  putting  a  stop  to  his  forays.     This  can 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     243 

and  will  be  done  in  entirely  friendly  aid  of  con- 
stituted authority  in  Mexico,  and  with  scrupulous 
respect  for  the  sovereignty  of  that  Republic. ' ' 

It  would  have  been  an  easy  task  for  the  Administration 
to  rush  American  soldiers  into  Mexico,  and  this  is  evi- 
dently what  Villa  thought  would  be  done.  But  it  was 
the  policy  of  the  Administration  to  convince  General 
Carranza  that  America  was  cooperating  with  him  to  end 
the  lawlessness  in  northern  Mexico,  which  he  was  not 
temporarily  prepared  to  accomplish.  General  Funston 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  American  forces,  with 
instructions  to  capture  Villa.  But  at  the  same  time 
every  possible  effort  was  made  to  conciliate  Carranza 
and  to  save  Mexican  pride. 

However,  the  successor  to  the  Montezumas  was  no  easy 
ruler  to  deal  with.  He  seemed  to  live  in  a  world  of  make- 
believe,  while  blood  and  murder  and  famine  passed  by 
his  headquarters.  He  spoke  of  his  government  with 
quixotic  enthusiasm,  and  seemed  to  take  it  as  a  slight 
that  the  President  of  the  United  States  did  not  consider 
him  amply  able  to  cope  with  the  situation.  ^loreover,  he 
seemed  to  look  upon  the  bandit  attacks  as  a  mere  tem- 
porary inconvenience  to  this  country,  until  he  could  get 
his  hands  on  the  situation.  And  he  gave  preemptory 
orders  for  the  capture  of  the  bandits,  without  having 
sufficient  force  even  to  reach  the  border. 

The  American  government,  however,  was  compelled 


244  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

not  only  to  stop  this  border  warfare,  but  it  had  to  be 
done  in  such  a  way,  if  possible,  as  not  to  arouse  the 
ancient  hatred  of  the  Mexicans,  nor  to  disturb  the  pride 
of  General  Venustiano  Carranza,  First  Chief  of  the  Con- 
stitutionalists. 

Would  this  quixotic  leader  permit  our  government  to 
send  troops  into  Mexico  to  capture  the  bandits?  That 
was  the  question  that  this  nation  discussed  for  several 
days.  And  he  sat  at  his  little  headquarters  and  delib- 
erated over  that  question  as  though  he  had  the  whole  of 
Central  and  South  America  at  his  back.  Then,  after 
some  delay,  he  very  grudgingly  gave  his  formal  consent 
on  the  condition  that  Mexican  troops  might  have  a  cor- 
responding privilege  of  crossing  the  line  into  the  United 
States  in  pursuit  of  outlaws. 

This  privilege  was  promptly  granted  by  the  American 
Administration.  But  it  had  become  quite  evident  to  this 
government  that  in  dealing  with  such  a  man  as  General 
Carranza,  we  were  in  extreme  danger  of  war  with  Mex- 
ico, and  this  was  especially  true  if  the  old  hero  should 
fall  into  designing  hands  just  at  this  critical  moment. 

As  the  American  forces  advanced  into  Mexico,  the 
problem  of  securing  supplies  became  a  perplexing  one. 
The  Administration  had  to  request  the  Carranza  gov- 
ernment to  give  General  Funston  permission  to  use  the 
railroads,  and  after  some  delay  this  also  was  grudgingly 
granted.  The  greatest  difficulty  of  the  American  forces, 
however,  was  not  in  pursuing  Villa,  but  in  so  conducting 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     245 

the  expedition  as  not  to  inflame  the  ^Mexicans.  Since 
the  latter  danger  was  always  present,  it  was  necessary 
to  carry  a  force  sufficiently  large  to  make  it  undesirable 
for  any  considerable  body  of  Mexicans  to  attack  the 
Americans. 

But  General  Carranza's  attitude  was  now  favorable, 
and  the  President  used  every  precaution  possible  to  make 
it  comprehensible  to  the  people  of  both  countries  that  we 
liad  no  designs  upon  Mexican  territory  and  that  we  did 
not  desire  to  interfere  unduly  with  their  affairs.  Not- 
withstanding Mr.  Wilson's  repeated  assurances,  how- 
ever, there  seemed  to  be  reactionaries  both  in  America 
and  in  Mexico  who  were  determined  to  bring  about 
intervention.  Certain  business  interests  seemed  to 
have  the  same  designs  as  General  Villa  had.  Therefore, 
on  March  25,  President  Wilson  issued  an  address  to  the 
American  people  whi-.h  was  at  the  same  time  a  warning 
to  the  "unscrupulous  influences"  at  work  along  the 
border : 

''As  lias  already  been  announced,"  he  said,  ''the 
expedition  into  Mexico  was  ordered  under  an 
agreement  with  the  de  facto  Government  of 
Mexico  for  the  single  purpose  of  taking  the  bandit 
Villa,  whose  forces  had  actually  invaded  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States,  and  is  in  no  sense  in- 
tended as  an  invasion  of  that  Eepublic  or  as  an 
infringement  of  its  sovereignty. 


246  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

*^I  have,  therefore,  asked  the  several  news 
services  to  be  good  enough  to  assist  the  adminis- 
tration in  keeping  this  view  of  the  expedition  con- 
stantly before  both  the  people  of  this  country  and 
the  distressed  and  sensitive  people  of  Mexico,  who 
are  very  susceptible,  indeed,  to  impressions  re- 
ceived from  the  American  press  not  only,  but  also 
very  ready  to  believe  that  these  impressions  pro- 
ceed from  the  views  and  objects  of  our  Government 
itself.  Such  conclusions,  it  must  be  said,  are  not 
unnatural,  because  the  main,  if  not  the  only,  source 
of  information  for  the  people  on  both  sides  of  the 
border  is  the  public  press  of  the  United  States. 

^^In  order  to  avoid  the  creation  of  erroneous 
and  dangerous  impressions  in  this  way  I  have 
called  upon  the  several  news  agencies  to  use  the 
utmost  care  not  to  give  news  stories  regarding 
this  expedition  the  color  of  war,  to  withhold 
stories  of  troop  movements  and  military  prepara- 
tions which  might  be  given  that  interpretation, 
and  to  refrain  from  publishing  unverified  rumors 
of  unrest  in  Mexico. 

^^I  feel  that  it  is  most  desirable  to  impress  upon 
both  our  own  people  and  the  people  of  Mexico  the 
fact  that  the  expedition  is   simply   a  necessary 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     247 

punitive  measure,  aimed  solely  at  the  elimination 
of  the  marauders  who  raided  Columbus  and  who 
infest  an  unprotected  district  near  the  border, 
which  they  use  as  a  base  in  making  attacks  upon 
the  lives  and  property  of  our  citizens  within  our 
own  territory.  It  is  the  purpose  of  our  com- 
manders to  cooperate  in  every  possible  way  with 
the  forces  of  General  Carranza  in  removing  this 
cause  of  irritation  to  both  Governments,  and  to 
retire  from  Mexican  territorv  so  soon  as  that 
object  is  accomplished. 

^'It  is  my  duty  to  warn  the  people  of  the  United 
States  that  there  are  persons  all  along  the  border 
who  are  actively  engaged  in  originating  and  giv- 
ing as  wide  currency  as  they  can  to  rumors  of  the 
most  sensational  and  disturbing  sort,  which  are 
wholly  unjustified  by  the  facts.  The  object  of  this 
traffic  in  falsehood  is  obvious.  It  is  to  create  in- 
tolerable friction  between  the  Government  of  the 
United!  States  and  the  de  facto  Government  of 
Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  inter- 
vention in  the  interest  of  certain  American  own- 
ers of  Mexican  properties.  This  object  cannot  be 
attained  so  long  as  sane  and  honorable  men  are 
in  control  of  this  Government,  but  very  serious 
conditions  may  be  created,  unnecessary  bloodshed 


248  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

may  result,  and  the  relations  between  the  two  re- 
publics may  be  very  much  embarrassed. 

^^The  people  of  the  United  States  should  know 
the  sinister  and  unscrupulous  influences  that  are 
afoot,  and  should  be  on  their  guard  against  credit- 
ing any  story  coming  from  the  border ;  and  those 
who  disseminate  the  news  should  make  it  a  matter 
of  patriotism  and  of  conscience  to  test  the  source 
and  authenticity  of  every  report  they  receive  from 
that  quarter.'' 

General  Carranza's  position  was  made  still  more  dif- 
ficult by  these  "unscrupulous  influences,"  and  he  in  as 
plain  words  as  President  Wilson  used,  attributed  the 
inspiration  of  the  border  raids,  designed  to  involve  the 
United  States  in  trouble  with  Mexico,  to  Mexican  "re- 
actionaries." These,  together  with  the  "reactionaries'' 
in  America — owners  of  Mexican  land,  mines,  oil  wells 
and  railroads — seemed  to  be  deliberately  trying  to  pre- 
cipitate revolution.  Not  all  of  these  were  Americans. 
Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  Germans  and  Spaniards  have 
large  holdings  in  ]\Iexico,  and  they  all  looked  to  the 
United  States  Government,  because  of  its  historic  policy, 
to  find  a  way  for  them  to  obtain  compensation. 

Thus  the  Mexican  question  was  full  of  perplexities 
that  were  bewildering  in  the  extreme.  There  seemed  to 
be  a  sort  of  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  certain  Americans 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     249 

and  foreigners  to  plunge  this  country  into  war,  in  spite 
of  the  efforts  of  the  President  to  deal  fairly  with  Car- 
ranza  and  put  an  end  to  the  strife  in  Mexico.  And  when 
the  President  was  seemingly  unmoved  by  the  many 
stories  of  murder  and  pillage  that  came  up  from  across 
the  border,  he  was  attacked  by  the  press  and  others  hos- 
tile to  his  policies  for  not  protecting  American  citizen-^ 
and  upholding  the  honor  and  dignity  of  this  country . 
The  President 's  note  of  warning,  therefore,  called  atten.  • 
tion  to  an  enemy  greater  than  Carranza  or  even  Villa—, 
those  who  were  trafficking  in  falsehoods  in  order  "to 
create  intolerable  friction  between  the  government  of 
the  United  States  and  the  de  facto  government  of  Mexico 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  intervention  in  the 
interest  of  certain  American  owners  of  Mexican 
properties.'' 

The  American  army  was  now  driving  southward  i^:i 
search  of  Villa,  whose  army  was  broken  up  into  small, 
roving  bands  and  scattered  throughout  the  mountainous 
districts.  In  the  meantime,  General  Obregon,  Carranza 's 
Minister  of  "War  and  the  rising  figure  in  Mexico,  sent  a 
troop  of  5,000  natives  to  assist  in  the  pursuit  of  Villa 
and  his  scattered  bands  of  marauders.  Thus  the  two 
armies  were  acting  in  conjunction,  and  the  end  of  the 
revolution  seemed  to  be  near  at  hand,  provided  the  native 
Mexicans,  who  were  ignorant  and  suspicious  of  every 
move  on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  were  not  aroused  to 
resist  the  advance  of  the  American  troops,  which  were 


250  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

having  fierce  encounters  with  bands  of  Villa's  disinte- 
grated army. 

After  one  fierce  encounter,  in  which  Colonel  Dodd  of 
the  American  cavalry  surprised  a  companj^  of  Villa's 
army,  it  was  reported  that  Villa  was  wounded,  and  later 
that  he  was  dead.  Many  believed  this  report  to  be  a  pure 
fabrication.  Anyway  it  had  the  desired  effect,  and  there 
arose  a  demand  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  American  forces 
from  Mexico,  since  the  object  for  w^hich  the  Americans 
sought  had  been  removed. 

Whether  Villa  were  dead  or  alive,  he  seemed  to  be 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  Americans.  IMore  than  a  month 
had  elapsed  since  the  attack  was  made  on  Columbus,  and 
the  presence  of  the  Americans  in  Mexico  appeared  now 
to  the  natives  to  be  a  menace  rather  than  a  friendly  mis- 
sion. Therefore,  General  Carranza  requested  the  Amer- 
ican government  to  withdraw  the  troops. 

President  Wilson  treated  this  request  in  a  dignified 
manner,  and  requested  General  Carranza  to  arrange  for 
a  conference  in  which  the  two  governments  might  come 
to  some  understanding  as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue 
in  order  to  protect  the  American  border  from  further 
outrages.  General  Carranza  acquiesced  in  the  request, 
and  General  Obregon,  representing  the  de  facto  govern- 
ment of  Mexico,  and  General  Hugh  L.  Scott,  representing 
the  United  States,  met  in  El  Paso  on  May  1,  and  an 
amicable  settlement  was  prophesied  from  the  beginning. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conference,  however,  another  group 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     251 

of  bandits  crossed  the  border  and  attacked  another  Amer- 
ican community.  All  negotiations  came  to  a  standstill 
at  once,  and  another  expeditionary  force  crossed  the  line 
and  went  off  into  the  sands  and  cacti  in  pursuit  of  the 
outlaws.  There  seemed  to  be  some  force  at  work  in  ]\Iex- 
ico  to  prevent  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  the  matter. 
Whenever  an  understanding  w^as  about  to  be  reached,  an- 
other blow  would  be  struck,  and  another  American  expe- 
dition would  move.  Carranza  became  excited.  Old  fears 
seemed  to  seize  him,  in  spite  of  President  Wilson's  pains 
to  assure  him  that  all  this  nation  desired  was  to  see  an 
end  to  the  border  outrages.  Then  old  suspicions  came  to 
the  surface. 

Finally,  on  May  31,  a  note  from  Carranza  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Secretary  of  State  demanding  an  immediate 
withdrawal  of  American  troops  from  Mexico.  It  inti- 
mated that  President  Wilson  had  not  been  acting  in  good 
faith.  ' '  There  has.  been  a  great  discrepancy, ' '  it  said, 
"between  the  protests  of  sincere  friendly  cooperation  on 
the  part  of  the  American  authorities  and  the  actual  atti- 
tude of  the  expeditions,  which,  on  account  of  its  distrust, 
its  secrecy  regarding  its  movements,  and  the  arms  at  its 
disposal,  clearly  indicate  that  it  was  a  hostile  expedition 
and  a  real  invasion  of  our  territory." 

This  note  was  indeed  a  great  surprise  to  the  American 
people  and  gave  at  once  a  new  turn  to  the  whole  Mex- 
ican problem.  It  was  said,  however,  that  it  was  well 
received  in  Mexico  City.     Therefore,  many  Americans 


252  WOODROW  WILSON  AIS  PRESIDENT 

were  inclined  to  believe  that  it.  was  written  "for  home 
consumption." 

The  American  government  made  no  immediate 
answer  to  this  note.  However,  it  was  a  warning.  But 
the  American  commander,  General  Pershing,  continued 
to  dispose  of  his  troops  to  the  best  advantage  and  Gen- 
eral Obregon  continued  to  cooperate  with  him.  In  the 
meantime  the  American  government  had  taken  the  pre- 
caution to  hold  up  all  arms  and  munitions  en  route  from 
this  country  to  Carranza's  army. 

A  second  warning  came  on  June  16  which  was  still 
more  threatening.  General  Trevino,  commanding  the 
Carranza  Army  of  the  North,  advised  General  Pershing, 
American  Expeditionary  Commander,  that  any  move- 
ment of  American  troops  from  their  present  line  to  the 
south,  east  or  west  would  be  considered  a  hostile  act  and 
a  signal  to  commence  warfare. 

General  Pershing  replied  promptly.  "I  take  orders 
only  from  my  government, ' '  he  said.  ' '  Please  make  that 
plain  to  General  Carranza." 

Instead  of  dealing  further  with  the  American  Govern- 
ment at  Washington,  General  Carranza  began  to  issue, 
through  his  generals,  orders  to  the  American  Com- 
manders in  Mexico. 

Meanwhile,  the  American  government  was  considering 
the  Carranza  note  and  the  action  of  General  Trevino. 
General  Carranza,  it  appeared,  had  changed  his  whole 
attitude  toward  the  American  nation.     What  new  in- 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     253 

fluences  surrounded  him  ?  What  insidious  agents  were 
at  work?  While  those  questions  were  being  discussed, 
newspapers  published  an  interview  with  Carranza  on 
June  20,  in  which  he  was  reported  to  have  said: 

"I  have  ordered  the  military  leaders  of  our  forces 
near  the  border  not  to  permit  the  further  passing  of  any 
American  forces  into  Mexican  territory.''  He  then  in- 
timated that  the  American  troops  were  not  sent  into 
Mexico  for  the  bandits  alone,  but  that  heavy  artillery 
was  brought  in  for  a  campaign  against  Mexico.  There- 
fore, he  said,  the  Mexican  people  did  not  believe  in  the 
sincerity  of  the  American  government,  and  they  were 
prepared  to  resist.  Later,  in  addressing  his  army,  he 
spoke  of  the  Spanish  and  Indian  blood  that  flowed 
through  their  veins  and  exhorted  them  to  stand  ready 
to  defend  their  country.     War  seemed  inevitable. 

On  the  next  day,  June  21,  President  Wilson's  reply 
to  Carranza 's  demand  for  withdrawal  of  American 
troops  was  sent.  The  note  was  long  and  carefully 
worded.  The  President  reviewed  the  diplomatic  rela- 
tions, but  refused  to  meet  all  of  Carranza 's  demands. 

Next  morning  he  heard  the  newsboys  in  the  streets  of 
AVashington  crying  "extra."  He  sent  for  a  copy  of  the 
paper  and  read  the  account  of  a  clash  between 
the  Mexicans  and  Americans.  An  hour  later  General 
Funston's  official  dispatch  was  received  informing  him 
that  a  fight  had  taken  place  on  Wednesday  morning, 
June  21,  at  Carrizal,  and  a  few  days  later  General  Car- 


254  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ranza  notified  the  Secretary  of  State  that  the  attack  on 
American  troops  was  in  compliance  with  his  orders. 

Immediately  after  the  news  of  the  Carrizal  clash  was 
received  in  Washington,  an  emergency  call  was  put  in 
for  the  quick  mobilization  of  the  National  Guard.  This 
act  was  the  signal  for  thousands  of  citizens  to  quit  their 
peaceful  occupations,  leave  their  homes,  and  go  into 
military  training.  In  every  state  the  tramp,  tramp  of 
the  soldier  boys  stirred  the  heroic  natures  of  men, 
women,  and  children  who  collected  along  the  streets  or 
gathered  at  the  railway  stations  to  wave  farewell  to  the 
soldiers  ' '  off  for  Mexico. ' '  It  was  now  generally  believed 
that  the  long-expected  and  by  many  hoped-for,  war  with 
Mexico  was  at  last  at  hand. 

President  Wilson,  however,  instead  of  becoming  ex- 
cited and  rushing  headlong  into  war,  began  at  once  to 
seek  the  cause  for  this  strange  turn  in  affairs.  General 
Carranza's  whole  attitude  was  a  puzzle.  It  was  incon- 
ceivable that  he  should,  of  his  own  initiative,  seek  war 
with  the  United  States.  Was  the  change  due,  then,  to 
insidious  foreign  influences  ?  Were  the  Mexicans  becom- 
ing so  excited  over  the  continued  presence  of  the  Amer- 
ican army  in  Mexico  that  General  Carranza  was  unable 
to  hold  them  in  cheek?  Did  he  really  fear  that  the 
American  army  was  sent  into  Mexico  for  the  purpose 
of  making  a  war  of  conquest  ?  Or  had  the  ' '  unscrupulous 
influences"  on  the  border  succeeded,   at  last,  in  their 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     255 

designs,  after  President  Wilson  had  repeatedly  warned 
both  countries  against  them? 

These  questions  were  argued  by  the  press  of  this 
country,  and  excited  Americans  fairly  raved — some  for 
war,  and  some  against  war.  But  who  was  really  re- 
sponsible for  the  clash  at  Carrizal — Americans  or 
i\Iexicans  ? 

In  the  midst  of  this  new  confusion,  while  war-shouts 
w^ere  being  heard  in  every  village,  President  Wilson  kept 
his  head  and  proceeded  very  deliberately  to  seek  the 
motive  for  this  change  in  affairs.  His  first  act  was  to 
demand  of  General  Carranza  an  immediate  release  of 
the  American  prisoners  captured  at  Carrizal  and  a  safe 
escort  for  the  border.  This  demand  was  complied  with. 
He  next  asked  General  Carranza  to  state  at  once  the 
intentions  of  the  Carranza  government  toward  General 
Pershing's  army  on  Mexican  soil.  The  reply  was  con- 
vincing to  the  President  that  the  Carranza  government 
certainly  did  not  desire  war  with  the  United  States. 
]\[oreover,  General  Trevino  in  command  of  the  Carranza 
arni}^  in  Chihuahua,  where  the  clash  occurred,  was  trans- 
ferred to  another  province. 

General  Carranza 's  attitude  now  was  very  pleasing  to 
the  American  government.  His  note  was  considered  the 
''wisest  and  most  restrained  communication  the  Car- 
ranza government  has  yet  delivered  to  the  United  States 
government,"  and  it  was  believed  by  the  Administration 


256  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  the  real  points  at  issue  had  been  ''grasped  for  the 
first  time  clearly  by  the  Carranza  government,"  which 
declared  its  willingness  to  ' '  consider  in  a  quick  and  prac- 
tical way,  prompted  by  a  spirit  of  concord,  the  remedies 
which  should  be  applied  to  the  present  situation." 

Thus  the  little  clash  at  Carrizal  was  apparently 
bringing  about  a  better  understanding  between  the  two 
nations,  and  America  was  again  about  to  triumph  as 
Mexico's  friend. 

However,  there  is  nothing  so  disturbing  to  the  peace  of 
the  country  as  the  sight  of  moving  armies.  Americans 
everywhere  seemed  to  rise  up  and  ask  to  go  to  war. 
A  million  soldiers  could  have  been  raised  easily.  The 
impulse  to  go  to  war  was  exceedingly  strong.  But  the 
President  was  determined  not  to  hit  any  part  of  Mexico, 
prostrate  from  long  and  bitter  internal  strife.  And 
again  he  curbed  the  American  passion  and  held  the  dogs 
of  war  in  leash  and  refused  to  let  them  go.  At  the  same 
time  the  State  Department  was  working  with  General 
Carranza  to  reach  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  two  problems 
that  caused  the  conflict  between  the  two  countries :  the 
presence  of  United  States  troops  on  Mexican  soil  and  the 
raids  on  the  United  States  border. 

The  President  was  criticized  for  not  rushing  a  half 
million  men  into  Mexico  and  for  not  closing  all  IMexican 
ports.  However,  he  still  believed  that  war  with  IMexico 
could  be  avoided,  and  he  would  not  let  any  force  drive 
him  into  a  war  of  conquest.     He  knew  the  people  of 


RELATIONS  WITH  GENERAL  CARRANZA     257 

Mexico  were  suspicious  of  the  Americans  and  even  hated 
them.  iMoreover,  he  knew  that  they  had  some  just  cause 
to  hate  Americans  and  to  speak  contemptuously  of  them 
as  ''Gringoes."    Therefore,  he  declared  again  his  policy 

toward  Mexico. 

He  was  speaking,  July  10,  to  the  World's  Congress 
of  Salesmen  in  session  in  Detroit.  He  told  his  hearers 
who  were  concerned  over  the  border  states  "we  have  to 
defend  our  border.  That  goes  without  saying.  Of 
course,  we  must  make  good  our  own  sovereignty.  But 
we  must  respect  the  sovereignty  of  Mexico. ' '  And  while 
these  words  were  being  uttered,  the  Secretary  of  War 
was  massing  troops  on  the  border.  But  he  assured  this 
nation  that  such  an  act  did  not  mean  war.  He  declared 
that  it  was  his  purpose  to  help,  not  harm,  Mexico.  But 
he  said  that  there  were  two  ways  of  helping  Mexico. 

**I  was  trying,"  lie  said,  ''to  expound  in 
another  place  the  other  day  the  long  way  and  the 
short  way  to  get  together.  The  long  way  is  to 
fight.  I  have  heard  some  gentlemen  say  that  they 
want  to  help  Mexico,  and  the  way  they  purpose 
to  help  her  is  to  overwhelm  her  with  force.  That 
is  the  long  way  to  help  Mexico,  as  well  as  the 
wrong  way.  Because,  after  the  fighting  you  will 
have  a  nation  full  of  justified  suspicion  and 
animated  by  well-founded  hostility  and  hatred. 


258  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

And  then  will  you  help  them  ?  Then  will  you  estab- 
lish cordial  business  relationship  with  them? 
Then  will  you  go  on  as  neighbors  and  establish 
their  confidence!  On  the  contrary,  you  will  have 
shut  every  door  as  if  it  were  of  steel  against  you. 
^*What  makes  Mexico  suspicious  of  us  is  that 
she  does  not  believe  as  yet  that  we  want  to  serve 
her.  She  believes  we  want  to  possess  her.  And 
she  has  justification  for  the  belief  in  the  way  in 
which  some  of  our  fellow-citizens  have  tried  to 
exploit  her  privileges  and  her  possessions.  For 
my  part  I  will  not  serve  the  ambitions  of  those 
gentlemen,  but  I  will  try  to  serve  all  America,  so 
far  as  intercourse  with  Mexico  is  concerned,  by 
trying  to  serve  Mexico  herself.'' 


CHAPTER  XII 

GOOD     FAITH    AND     JUSTICE     TOWARD     ALL 

NATIONS 

Washington's  Farewell  Address  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  is  regarded  as  a  great  American  Classic 
and  is  taught  in  the  public  schools  of  America  and  held 
up  to  tlie  youth  as  a  political  ideal.  In  speaking  of  our 
foreign  relations,  he  said :  "It  will  be  vv^orthy  of  a  free, 
enlightened,  and  at  no  distant  period  a  great  nation, 
to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous  and  too  novel  ex- 
ample of  a  people  always  guided  by  an  exalted  justice 
and  benevolence."  It  was  this  ideal  that  President 
Wilson  adopted  for  his  guidance  in  dealing  with  foreign 
countries.  The  practice,  however,  of  certain  Senators 
and  Members  in  drawing  from  the  national  treasury 
unfair  and  unjust  appropriations  for  their  respective 
states,  contemptuously  referred  to  as  ''pork  barrel"  leg- 
islation, is  about  the  attitude,  as  a  rule,  of  one  nation  to 
the  remainder  of  the  world. 

In  August,  1912,  while  the  Presidential  campaign  was 
in  a  very  acute  stage,  Congress  enacted  a  law  providing 
for  the  future  administration  of  the  Panama  Canal.  One 
section  in  that  law  gave  free  passage  through  the  canal 

259 


260  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

to  the  ships  of  the  United  States  engaged  in  coastwise 
trade,  but  provided  that  all  other  American  ships,  as 
well  as  all  ships  of  foreign  countries,  passing  through 
the  canal,  should  pay  a  toll. 

This  whole  question  was  very  freely  discussed  by  the 
people  of  this  country  before  the  passage  of  this  act, 
and  both  political  parties  went  on  record  as  favoring 
the  exemption  from  tolls  of  American  ships  engaged  in 
coastwise  trade.  However,  the  British  government  and 
other  nations  objected  to  our  favored  treatment  of  our 
own  shipping,  on  the  ground  that  it  violated  the  Hay- 
Pauncefote  Treaty.  It  was  contended  by  the  Taft  ad- 
ministration and  Congress  that  it  was  never  understood 
when  the  treaty  was  ratified  that  Mr.  John  Hay,  our 
ambassador,  was  signing  away  our  rights  to  the  free  use 
of  the  canal  for  coastwise  trade.  Therefore,  the  law 
was  passed  over  the  protest  of  the  British  government 
and  to  the  surprise  of  the  nations  of  Europe. 

When  President  Wilson  was  inaugurated,  the  canal 
was  incomplete,  but  plans  were  being  matured  for  its 
formal  opening.  The  protests  of  foreign  nations,  how- 
ever, against  what  they  considered  was  an  act  of  injustice 
on  the  part  of  the  American  government,  seemed  to  rob 
this  nation  of  much  of  the  glory  for  bringing  to  comple- 
tion such  a  tremendous  undertaking. 

After  Mr.  Wilson  became  President,  he  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  old  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  of  1850 
was  an  agreement  between  the  United  States  and  Great 


FAITH  AND  JUSTICE  TOWAPxD  ALL  961 

Britain  that  neither  conntry  should  have  exclusive  con- 
trol over  any  inter-ocean  canal  in  Central  America,  and 
that  the  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  which  superseded  the 
Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  was  a  guarantee  to  Great  Brit- 
ain, or  its  wording  was  such  as  to  leave  the  impression  on 
the  European  nations,  that  the  canal  would  be  open  to 
both  nations  and  to  all  nations  on  the  same  terms, 

jMoreover,  it  developed  after  the  American  coastwise 
vessels  were  exempt  from  toll,  that  out  of  the  hundreds 
of  regular  trans- Atlantic  liners,  only  six  ships  were  fly- 
ing the  American  flag,  but  that  the  American  coastwise 
shipping  was  a  vast  fleet.  According  to  the  figures  quoted 
by  an  English  writer,  ]\Ir.  Winthrop  Marvin,  our  coast- 
wise fleet  was  greater  than  the  entire  German  merchant 
marine  and  greater  than  the  combined  merchant  marines 
of  France  and  Italy.  It  appeared,  therefore,  that  very 
nearly  all  of  the  American  vessels  were  exempt  from  toll 
by  the  Kepeal  Act,  and  iMr.  Wilson  considered  this  a 
violation  certainly  of  the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  the 

treaty. 

The  Panama  Canal  was  not  opened  until  August  14, 
1914.  In  the  meantime.  President  Wilson  was  giving 
the  matter  of  toll  exemption  very  careful  study,  and  in 
February  he  wrote  to  Mr.  William  L.  ^larbury,  of  Balti- 
more, a  letter  which  indicated  how  his  mind  was  working 
on  the  problem: 

''Witli  regard  to  tlie  question  of  canal  tolls  my 


262  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Opinion  is  very  clear,"  he  said.  ^'The  exemption 
constitutes  a  very  mistaken  policy  from  every 
point  of  view.  It  is  economically  unsound;  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  benefits  for  the  present,  at  any 
rate,  only  a  monopoly  and  it  seems  to  me,  in  clear 
violation  of  the  terms  of  the  Hay-Pauncefote 
Treaty.  There  is,  of  course,  much  honest  differ- 
ence of  opinion  as  to  the  last  point  as  there  is,  no 
doubt,  as  to  others.  But  it  is  at  least  debatable, 
and  if  the  promises  we  make  in  such  matters  are 
debatable,  I,  for  one,  do  not  care  to  debate  them. 
I  think  the  country  would  prefer  to  let  no  question 
arise  as  to  its  whole-hearted  purpose  to  redeem 
its  promises  in  the  light  of  any  reasonable  con- 
struction of  them  rather  than  debate  a  point  of 
honor. '  * 

His  program  had  two  distinct  purposes  in  view — 
(1)  to  destroy  monopoly,  and  (2)  to  restore  the  rule  of 
right  and  justice  in  all  foreign  relations  as  well  as  in 
domestic  affairs.  As  the  discussion  of  this  question  con- 
tinued, the  opinion  grew  that  the  exemption  clause  en- 
couraged monopoly  and  was  a  violation  of  the  rule  of 
right  and  justice. 

For  the  time  the  country  forgot  the  anti-trust  bills  in 
Congress  and  gave  all  attention  to  this,  the  newest  sen- 
sation.    The  old  question  of  how  far  a  party  is  bound 


FAITH  AND  JUSTICE  TOWARD  ALL  263 

by  a  plank  in  the  platform  was  discussed  pro  and  con. 
It  was  argued,  furthermore,  that  the  exemption  act  was 
indirectly  a  subsidy,  and  that  the  Democratic  platform 
was  emphatic  in  its  opposition  to  subsidies,  which  en- 
couraged  monopolies,   and  since  the  final  step   in  the 
overthrow  of  monopoly  was  about  to  be  taken,  the  exemp- 
tion clause  in  the  Panama  Canal  act  should  be  repealed 
even  before  the  anti-trust  laws  were  enacted.    Mr.  Wil- 
son started  the  nation  to  discussing  the  question.    Then 
he  withdrew  from  the  argument  for  a  while  and  waited 
until  March  5,  when  he  appeared  before  Congress,  and 
in  the  following  words  asked  that  body  to  reverse  its 
position  in  the  exemption  clause  of  the  Panama  Canal 
act: 

^ ^ Gentlemen  of  tlie  Congress,"  he  began,  ^^I 
have  come  to  you  upon  an  errand  which  can  be 
very  briefly  performed,  but  I  beg  that  you  will 
not  measure  its  importance  by  the  number  of 
sentences  in  which  I  state  it.  No  communication 
I  have  addressed  to  the  Congress  carried  with  it 
graver  or  more  far-reaching  implications  as  to  the 
interest  of  the  country,  and  I  come  now  to  speak 
upon  a  matter  with  regard  to  which  I  am  charged 
in  a  peculiar  degree,  by  the  Constitution  itself, 
with  personal  responsibility. 

''1  have  come  to  ask  you  for  the  repeal  of  that 


264  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

provision  of  the  Panama  Canal  Act  of  August  24, 
1912,  which  exempts  vessels  engaged  in  the  coast- 
wise trade  of  the  United  States  from  payment  of 
tolls,  and  to  urge  upon  you  the  justice,  the  wisdom, 
and  the  large  policy  of  such  a  repeal  with  the  ut- 
most earnestness  of  which  I  am  capable.  In  my 
own  judgment,  very  fully  considered  and  ma- 
turely formed,  that  exemption  constitutes  a  mis- 
taken economic  policy  from  every  point  of  view, 
and  is,  moreover,  in  plain  contravention  of  the 
treaty  with  Great  Britain  concerning  the  canal 
concluded  on  November  18,  1901.  But  I  have  not 
come  to  urge  upon  you  my  personal  views.  I  have 
come  to  state  to  you  a  fact  and  a  situation.  What- 
ever may  be  our  own  differences  of  opinion  con- 
cerning this  much  debated  measure,  its  meaning 
is  not  debated  outside  the  United  States.  Every- 
where else  the  language  of  the  treaty  is  given  but 
one  interpretation,  and  that  interpretation  pre- 
cludes the  exemption  I  am  asking  you  to  repeal. 
We  consented  to  the  treaty;  its  language  we  ac- 
cepted, if  we  did  not  originate  it ;  and  we  are  too 
big,  too  powerful,  too  self-respecting  a  nation  to 
interpret  with  a  too  strained  or  refined  reading 
the  words  of  our  own  promises  just  because  we 
have  power  enough  to  give  us  leave  to  read  them 


FAITH  AND  JUSTICE  TOWARD  ALL  265 

as  we  please.  The  large  thing  to  do  is  the  only 
thing  we  can  aft'ord  to  do,  a  voluntary  withdrawal 
from  a  position  everywhere  questioned  and  mis- 
understood. We  ought  to  reverse  our  action  with- 
out raising  the  question  whether  we  were  right 
or  wrong,  and  so  once  more  deserve  our  reputa- 
tion for  generosity  and  for  the  redemption  of 
every  obligation  without  quibble  or  hesitation. 

^'I  ask  this  of  you  in  support  of  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  administration.  I  shall  not  know 
how  to  deal  with  other  matters  of  even  greater 
delicacy  and  nearer  consequence  if  you  do  not 
grant  it  to  me  in  ungrudging  measure." 

This  was  indeed  a  remarkable  request— remarkable 
for  its  boldness  and  for  its  directness.  So  brief  was  the 
address  that  he  had  finished  almost  before  his  hearers 
were  aware  that  his  appeal  was  fairly  begun.  However, 
when  he  bowed  to  the  assembly  and  left  the  rostrum,  they 
were  aware  of  the  fact  that  he  had  appeared  in  person 
to  ask  them  to  do  an  unprecedented  but  very  important 
thing;  namely,  to  repudiate  a  plank  in  the  Democratic 
platform  and  to  reverse  themselves  on  the  Exemption 

Act. 

Mr.  Wilson  had  been  President  just  a  year  and  a  day 
when  he  faced  Congress  in  that  calm  and  confident  man- 
ner.   There  were  members  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House 


266  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

who  had  been  in  public  life  more  than  a  generation  and 
who  had  been  a  part  of  the  national  legislative  body 
longer  than  Woodrow  Wilson  had  been  a  national  figure. 
And  he  was  now  asking  them  to  reverse  a  step  that  had 
been  taken  deliberately  less  than  two  years  ago  and  after 
considerable  discussion. 

The  address  was  praised  as  "straightforward"  and 
"effective."  However,  it  was  declared  by  press  corre- 
spondents that  "it  was  received  more  unfavorably  than 
any  other  utterances  he  has  made  to  the  National  Legis- 
lature." It  was  the  last  sentence  of  the  address  which 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  entire  nation.  "What 
were  those  'other  matters  of  even  greater  delicacy?'  " 
Then  critic  after  critic  declared  that  the  President  was 
wrong.  Some  even  said  that  he  was  under  some  sinister 
influence  or  that  he  was  courting  friendship  with 
England. 

It  was  sometimes  hard  for  the  business  men  to 
understand  ^Ir.  Wilson's  rule  of  right  and  justice  when 
it  was  to  be  applied  to  domestic  matters.  It  was  hard 
for  those  interested  in  the  annexation  of  Mexico  to  un- 
derstand it  when  applied  to  our  relations  with  Latin- 
American  states.  But  it  was  considerably  harder  for 
certain  members  of  the  legislative  body  to  understand  it 
when  applied  to  international  relationship. 

Two  of  the  greatest  issues  of  President  Wilson's  ad- 
ministration were  before  Congress  at  this  time — The 
anti-trust  laws  and  the  repeal  of  Panama  tolls.     It  was 


FAITH  AND  JUSTICE  TOWARD  ALL  267 

a  part  of  iMr.  Wilson's  tactics  while  important  measures 
were  pending  to  lay  down  the  fundamental  principles 
that  should  guide  America  in  all  of  its  governmental 
processes,  and  he  usually  chose  some  public  occasion  in 
which  to  re-state  these  principles.  On  May  16,  1914,  while 
these  two  measures  were  pending  and  while  the  press  of 
the  country  was  keeping  the  nation  informed  as  to  the 
gossip  and  their  progress,  Mr.  Wilson  delivered  an  ad- 
dress at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Commodore  John 
Barry,  a  Revolutionary  patriot,  in  which  he  referred  to 
Washington's  injunction  to  this  country  to  keep  free 
from  entangling  alliances. 

**We  can  not  form  alliances,''  said  Mr.  Wilson, 
^'witli  tliose  who  are  not  going  our  way  and  in  our 
might  and  majesty  and  in  the  certainty  of  our 
purpose  we  need  not  and  should  not  form  alli- 
ances with  any  nation  in  the  world.     Those  who 
are  right,  those  who  study  their  conscience  in  de- 
termining  their   policies,   those   who    hold   their 
honor  higher  than  their  advantages  do  not  need 
alliances.     You  need  alliances  when  you  are  not 
true  to  yourself.    You  are  weak  when  you  are  in 
the  wrong.    You  are  weak  when  you  are  afraid  to 
do  the  right.    You  are  weak  when  you  doubt  your 
course   and  the  majesty   of  the  nation's   might 
asserted." 


268  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

And  then  he  exhorted  the  people  of  the  nation 
to  devote  themselves  ''to  the  purpose  of  enabling 
America  to  live  her  own  life,  to  be  the  justest,  the 
most  progressive,  the  most  honorable,  the  most 
enlightened  nation  in  the  world." 

When  the  bill  to  repeal  was  introduced,  of  course  it 
met  with  opposition,  and  it  was  said  that  this  opposition 
was  a  signal  for  a  "revolt  against  Mr.  Wilson's  leader- 
ship." The  nation  had  been  warned  many  times  before 
that  "a  revolt"  was  at  hand.  However,  the  leaders  in 
the  Senate  and  the  House  kept  the  organization  together, 
although  hostile  editors  declared  that  the  President  had 
"driven  his  party  into  hopeless  dissension"  and  "the 
Democratic  solid  front  that  put  through  the  tariff  bill 
and  the  new  banking  law  is  broken  and  shattered." 

A  survey  of  Congress  in  May  revealed  the  fact  that 
the  passage  of  the  Repeal  Bill  was  after  all  a  foregone 
conclusion.  A  safe  majority  could  be  counted  on  in  both 
Houses,  and  on  June  11  the  Panama  Toll  Act  was  re- 
pealed. The  Senators  and  Members,  having  the  Presi- 
dent 's  idea  before  them,  frankly  admitted  they  had  made 
a  mistake  and  as  cheerfully  reversed  themselves.  The 
repeal  was  looked  upon  by  a  host  of  papers  as  the  great- 
est victory  yet  achieved  by  the  President  and  one  which 
in  itself  will  insure  his  place  in  history.  And  it  was 
declared  that  "the  rule  of  justice  and  equality"  at  last 
applied  to  our  international  policies,  and  that  "no  pri- 


FAITH  AND  JUSTICE  TOWARD  ALL  269 

vate  interests,"  foreign  or  domestic,  may  capitalize  this 
great  republic  enterprise  (the  Panajna  Canal)  for  its 
own  special  profit." 

However,  the  act  of  Congress  was  so  unprecedented 
that  criticism  continued,  until  Mr.  Wilson,  a  few  days 
afterward,  spoke  these  words: 

'^It  is  patriotic  sometimes  to  regard  the  honor 
of  this  country  in  preference  to  its  material  inter- 
ests. Would  you  rather  be  despised  by  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  as  incapable  of  keeping  your 
treaty  obligations  or  would  you  rather  have  free 
tolls  for  American  ships  I 

''The  treaty  has  been  made  a  mistake,  but  its 
meaning  is  unmistakable.  But  when  I  have  made 
a  promise  I  try  to  keep  it.  The  most  honorable 
and  distinguished  nation  in  the  world  is  the  nation 
that  can  keep  its  promises  to  its  own  hurt. 

''I  want  to  say,  parenthetically,  that  I  do  not 
think  anybody  was  hurt.  I  am  not  enthusiastic 
for  subsidies  to  a  monopoly  and  nobody  can  get 
me  enthusiastic  on  that  subject.  But,  assuming 
that  it  was  a  matter  of  enthusiasm,  I  am  much 
more  enthusiastic  for  keeping  the  integrity  of  the 
United  States  absolutely  unquestioned  and  un- 
sullied.'' 


270  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

The  President  put  liis  house  in  order  none  too  soon. 
He  had  labored  with  success  to  destroy  private  monopoly 
at  home  and  set  up  again  the  rule  of  right  and  justice 
in  the  nation.  He  had  convinced  the  South  American 
nations  that  the  same  rule  v/ould  apply  to  all  his  dealings 
with  the  republics  of  this  hemisphere.  Finally,  he  had 
proved  to  the  world  that  this,  the  greatest  republic  on 
earth,  could  give  to  mankind  "the  magnanimous  and 
too  novel  experience"  of  a  people  guided  "by  an  exalted 
justice  and  benevolence." 

With  these  achievements  the  Old  Era  came  to  a  close. 
The  European  war  drew  a  heavy  veil  between  the  past 
and  the  future  as  the  New  Era  appeared,  and  President 
Wilson  faced  the  future  with  a  power  and  a  prestige 
that  made  him  one  of  the  commanding  personalities  of 
the  world. 


PART  II 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AND  A  NEW  ERA 

On  July  4,  1914,  President  Wilson  laid  aside  executive 
duties  and  on  this,  the  nation's  birthday,  he  stood  in 
Independence  Hall  to  interpret  the  spirit  of  America. 
In  concluding  his  address,  he  said : 

<*To  what  other  nation  in  the  world  can  all 
eyes  look  for  an  instant  sympathy  that  thrills 
the  whole  body  politic  when  men  anywhere  are 
fighting  for  their  rights?  I  do  not  know  that 
there  will  ever  be  a  declaration  of  independence 
and  of  grievances  for  mankind,  but  I  believe  that 
if  any  such  document  is  ever  drawTi  it  will  be 
drawcL  in  the  spirit  of  the  American  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  that  America  has  lifted 
high  the  light  which  will  shine  unto  all  genera- 
tions and  gTiide  the  feet  of  mankind  to  the  goal 
of  justice  and  liberty  and  peace." 

At  that  time  the  world,  save  Mexico,  was  at  peace. 
Men  everywhere  were  admitting  that  the  causes  of  war 

271 


272  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

had  declined,  and  many  men  of  international  fame  were 
declaring  that  there  would  never  be  another  great  war. 
The  President,  therefore,  had  no  thought  of  war  when 
these  words  were  uttered.  He  was  only  too  conscious 
of  the  great  struggle  for  human  rights  that  had  been 
carried  on  in  this  nation  for  sixteen  months,  when  he 
labored  earnestly  to  complete  the  program  of  "New 
Freedom"  and  restore  the  rule  of  right  and  justice  in 
this  nation. 

Moreover,  his  foreign  policy  was  being  conducted  with 
the  single  aim  of  convincing  all  nations  that  America's 
flag  "is  the  flag  not  only  of  America  but  of  humanit}^" 
The  Panama  Tolls  Act  had  just  been  repealed,  and  the 
nations  of  the  world  were  applauding  the  act.  The  A.  B. 
C.  Mediators  were  just  closing  their  conference  at 
Niagara  Falls  and  the  Latin- American  states  were  rejoic- 
ing over  the  magnanimous  conduct  of  the  United  States. 
The  American  army  was  still  at  Vera  Cruz,  but  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  was  waiting  only  for  Huerta 
to  resign  the  presidency  of  Mexico  and  for  the  restora- 
tion of  constitutional  government  in  that  war  distressed 
country. 

At  no  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  had  this  nation 
stood  so  well  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  on  this 
birthday  and  never  had  it  lifted  so  high  ' '  the  light  which 
will  shine  unto  all  generations  and  guide  the  feet  of 
mankind  to  the  goal  of  justice  and  liberty  and  peace." 

Then  suddenly,  July  28,  1914,  Austria  declared  war 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  273 

on  Servia  and  the  great  European  war  broke  upon  the 
world.  Within  less  than  thirty  days  after  the  celebration 
referred  to  above  everything  was  changed.  Almost  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  nations  were  transformed,  old  stan- 
dards of  right  and  wrong  were  swept  away,  governmental 
policies  became  obsolete,  and  a  new  era  had  begun. 

The  shock  of  war  was  so  great  and  the  human  mind 
was  wrenched  so  violently  away  from  the  past  that  the 
first  eighteen  months  of  President  Wilson's  administra- 
tion seem  more  like  Ancient  History  than  the  proceedings 
of  three  years  ago.  Who  remembers  now  the  summer  of 
1913  when  he  routed  the  lobbyists  and  was  hailed  the 
leader  of  the  Democratic  Party  ?  Who  recalls  the  terror 
that  struck  the  business  men  when  the  currency  laws  were 
debated  and  captains  of  finance  were  summoned  to  Wash- 
ington to  give  assistance  to  long  needed  reforms?  Who 
is  mindful  of  the  panicky  condition  of  the  country 
eighteen  months  ago  when  it  was  announced  that  the  long 
struggle  between  government  and  monopoly  had  at  last 
begun?  It  all  reads  like  chapters  recovered  from  a  for- 
gotten past.  And  yet  the  legislation  of  that  period  was 
the  most  far-reaching  of  any  since  the  days  of  Andrew 
Jackson. 

But  what  did  a  great  war,  three  thousand  miles  away, 
have  to  do  with  America?  How  did  it  make  statesmen 
forget  old  issues?  How  did  it  turn  political  currents 
into  new  channels  and  make  new  issues  that  were  un- 
thouo^ht  of  before  the  war  ? 


274  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

In  the  first  place  a  vast  commerce  of  some  $2,000,- 
000,000  a  year  was  suddenly  either  demolished  or  dis- 
located. The  day  after  England  declared  war  on 
Germany  traffic  between  America  and  Europe  was  para- 
lyzed. Merchantmen  were  impressed  into  military  serv- 
ice ;  freight  and  passenger  vessels  were  afraid  to  leave 
the  ports ;  and  millions  of  tons  of  merchandise  were  being 
piled  up  in  American  ports  with  no  foreign  market  in 
sight.  The  Southern  States  were  prostrated  by  the  slump 
in  the  cotton  market.  The  stock  exchanges  closed  their 
doors.  Trade  depression  threw  an  army  of  working  men 
out  of  employment,  and  the  falling  off  in  the  fiscal 
revenue  was  so  great  that  the  Government  was  driven 
temporarily  to  impose  a  number  of  direct  taxes  on  the 
people.  Thus  the  economic  safety  of  this  nation  was 
threatened. 

Moreover,  nearly  thirty  million  American  citizens 
claimed  close  kinship  with  the  belligerents  on  the  other 
side  of  the  continent  and  the  conflict  had  for  them  some- 
thing of  the  character  of  "a  civil  war  by  proxy."  Per- 
haps in  no  other  country  were  the  right  and  wrong  of  the 
war  more  passionately  debated.  As  the  great  battles 
raged  in  Europe,  millions  of  American  citizens  seemed 
to  forget  everything  save  their  blood  relatives  in  the 
trenches.  The  meager  news  from  Europe  told  them  that 
the  old  homesteads  back  in  the  lands  of  their  fathers,  the 
accumulated  earnings,  the  heirlooms  and  even  the  tombs 
of  their  ancestors  were  being  sacrificed  to  the  god  of 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  275 

war.     Gray-haired   fathers   and   mothers   of   American 
citizens  were  driven  from  their  homes  like  so  many  cattle, 
and  even  from  the  land  of  their  birth.    Great  industries 
were  swept  off  the  map,  and  brothers  and  sisters  became 
wanderers   without   food    or   shelter.      Then   from   the 
trenches  came  heart-rending  stories  of  carnage  in  which 
so   many   kinsmen   were   slaughtered   that   the    god   of 
war  had  rivers  of  blood  in  which  to  slake  the  world's 
militaristic  thirst  for  gore.     And  three  thousand  miles 
from    these    dreadful   battlefields— here    among   a    free 
people— thirty  million  kinsmen  looked  daily  into  the  eyes 
of  men  and  women  whose  blood  relatives  in  Europe  were 
slaughtering  their  relatives,  and  preserving  neutrality  in 
America  became  the  most  important  problem  of  the  hour. 
The  United  States  was  the  only  great  neutral  nation 
left  to  help  bring  order  out  of  chaos  and  the  responsibility 
of  this  unique  position  was  emphasized  strongly  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war.     This  nation  occupied  "a  sort  of 
provisional   judgment   seat"   and   the   warring  nations 
appealed  to  it  for  sympathy   and  moral  support  and 
waited  eagerly  for  verdicts  of  guilt  or  acquittal.    There 
was  almost  a  scramble  among  the  combatants  to  win 
America's  approval  or  good-will.     Behind  this  competi- 
tion to  gain  the  ear  of  the  United  States  there  was,  says 
a  contemporary  writer,  a  two-fold  purpose  :    ' '  First,  that 
decent  respect  for  contemporary  opinion  which  is  making 
it  more  and  more  impossible  for  any  nation  to  go  to  war 
without  at  least  an  attempt  to  show  that  its  cause  is 


276  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

just;  and  second,  a  consciousness  that,  Avhile  American 
neutrality  was  accepted  in  all  lands  as  a  static  factor, 
American  resources  and  benevolence  and  diplomacy 
might  have  no  small  influence  in  the  course  of  the  war 
and  the  views  of  peace." 

Therefore,  America  was  called  upon  to  maintain  a  just 
neutrality  at  any  cost  save  that  of  honor  in  order  to  hold 
the  mad  half  of  the  world  to  some  ethical  standard  and  to 
compose  the  differences  between  the  warring  nations 
when  the  accumulated  fighting  strength  of  the  world  had 
spent  its  energies. 

These  extraordinary  conditions  were  giving  birth  to 
new  issues  more  perplexing  than  any  that  had  confronted 
the  nation  since  the  Revolutionary  War.  How  to  main- 
tain neutrality,  how  to  hold  the  world  to  some  standard, 
how  to  mobilize  our  national  resources,  how  to  keep  the 
lines  of  trade  open,  how  to  maintain  honor  and  convince 
the  American  people  that  national  honor  has  been  main- 
tained, these  are  the  new  issues  that  arose  immediately. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  approach  these  new  problems 
with  courage  and  intelligence.  President  Wilson  with 
a  calmness  that  was  steadying  to  the  nation  reminded  the 
American  people  that  the  supreme  duty  of  the  hour  was 
to  place  America  first  in  their  thoughts.  And  '  *  America 
First"  became  the  watchword  of  the  administration  and 
served  to  anchor  the  American  spirit  and  keep  men  sane. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
AMERICA  FIRST 

The  shock  was  so  sudden  that  no  one  had  attempted 
to  think  through  the  possibilities  of  such  a  conflict. 
But  now  that  it  had  burst  upon  the  world,  men  every- 
where were  half  dazed  when  the  catastrophe  that  had 
been  declared  impossible  was  indeed  a  reality.  In  this 
great  crisis  all  eyes  were  turned  to  the  chief  executive 
of  the  nation.  What  would  he  do— what  could  he  do- 
to  give  America  the  right  direction  ? 

The  nations  of  Europe  had  decided  what  they  would 
do ;  and  their  decision  gave  America  a  demoralization  of 
business,  with  stock  exchanges  closed,  railroads  helpless, 
markets  congested,  factories  shut  down  and  labor  unem- 
ployed. It  gave  ' '  civil  war  by  proxy, '  '—citizens  arrayed 
against  citizens,  mobs  in  the  streets,  and  a  panicky  con- 
dition that  affected  men's  reason.  Moreover,  it  turned 
the  current  of  government  from  old  accustomed  chan- 
nels into  strange  and  untried  areas.  In  the  midst  of  this 
sudden  confusion,  even  before  America  could  think,  every 
nation  of  Europe  turned  quickly  to  this  country  for  help 
and  sympathy  and  consolation,  and  added  to  the  con- 

277 


278  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

fusion  by  attempting  to  place  its  interest  first  in  the 
hearts  of  American  citizens.  What,  then,  was  the  first 
duty  of  Americans? 

It  is  very  apparent  now  that  the  supreme  duty  of  the 
hour  was  for  America  to  find  herself  first.  And  while 
the  passions  of  men  were  stirred  by  the  events  on 
the  other  side  of  the  globe  and  their  hearts  were  filled 
with  despair  over  the  demoralization  at  home,  President 
Wilson  exhibited  sagacity,  resolution,  and  patience  which 
has  rarely  been  equaled.  His  first  act  was  to  remind  the 
people  of  this  nation  that  their  first  thoughts  should  be 
for  America,  and  "America  First"  became  a  shibboleth 
with  which  to  unify  the  patriotism  of  this  nation. 

On  the  day  before  England  declared  war  against  Ger- 
many he  called  the  newspaper  correspondents  together 
and  urged  them  to  be  careful  and  "not  to  give  currency 
to  any  unverified  news,  to  anything  that  would  tend  to 
create  or  add  to  the  excitement. ' '  And  then  he  added, ' '  I 
think  you  will  agree  that  we  must  all  at  the  present 
moment  act  together  as  Americans  in  seeing  that  America 
does  not  suffer  any  unnecessary  distress  from  what  is 
going  on  in  the  world  at  large." 

This  appeal  was  coupled  with  an  assurance  that  the 
financial  situation  throughout  the  country  was  sound, 
that  bankers  and  business  men  were  already  thinking  of 
America  first  and  were  cooperating  "with  the  govern- 
ment with  a  zeal,  intelligence,  and  spirit  which  make  the 
outcome  secure."    He  appealed  to  the  American  people 


AMERICA  FIRST  279 

to  aid  the  Administration  in  preserving  the  soundness  of 
this  nation,  for  this  country,  he  said,  "owes  it  to  man- 
kind to  remain  in  such  a  position  and  in  such  a  state  of 
mind  that  she  can  help  the  rest  of  the  world." 

In  this  appeal  to  the  American  people  he  pointed  out 
the  direction  that  this  nation  must  take — Act  together  as 
Americans,  not  as  foreigners,  so  that  America  shall  not 
suffer.  Then  she  will  be  in  a  state  of  mind  to  help  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  President  Wilson  offered  to 
act  in  the  interest  of  European  peace,  either  then  or  at 
any  other  suitable  time.  This  was  a  formal  act  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  provision  of  the  Hague  Convention  of 
1907,  which  states  that  it  is  expedient  and  desirable  that 
' '  strangers ' '  to  the  dispute  should  on  their  own  initiative 
and  as  far  as  circumstances  may  allow  offer  their  good 
offices  or  mediation  to  the  states  at  variance.  But  the 
old  world  was  mad,  mediation  was  then  impossible,  and 
the  President  had  but  one  course  before  him — to  protect 
America  by  keeping  it  neutral. 

It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  in  this  terrible  ordeal 
he  exalted  the  interest  of  America  above  all  sympathies 
for  the  warring  nations  and  proclaimed  that  this  nation 
should,  if  possible,  be  neutral.  The  very  safety  of  busi- 
ness, the  solidarity  of  our  citizenship,  and  the  power  to 
aid  the  warring  nations  in  bringing  this  dreadful  war  to 
a  close  depended  upon  this  nation's  remaining  neutral. 
Therefore  he  issued  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  American 


280  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

people — reminding  them  again  of  the  dangers  that  might 
arise  from  partisan  strife.    He  said: 

^^My  Fc41ow  Countrymen: 

^'I  suppose  that  every  thoughtful  man  in 
America  has  asked  himself,  during  these  last 
troubled  weeks,  what  influence  the  European  war 
may  exert  upon  the  United  States,  and  I  take 
the  liberty  of  addressing  a  few  w^ords  to  you  in 
order  to  point  out  that  it  is  entirely  within  our 
own  choice  what  its  effects  upon  us  will  be  and 
to  urge  very  earnestly  upon  you  the  sort  of 
speech  and  conduct  which  will  best  safeguard 
the  nation  against  distress  and  danger. 

*'The  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  United  States 
will  depend  upon  what  American  citizens  say 
and  do.  Every  man  who  really  loves  America 
will  act  and  speak  in  the  true  spirit  of  neutrality, 
which  is  the  spirit  of  impartiality  and  fairness 
and  friendliness  to  all  concerned.  The  spirit  of 
the  nation  in  this  critical  matter  will  be  deter- 
mined largely  by  what  individuals  and  society 
and  those  gathered  in  public  meetings  do  and 
say,  upon  what  newspapers  and  magazines  con- 
tain, upon  what  ministers  utter  in  their  pulpits, 


AMERICA  FIRST  281 

and  men  proclaim  as  their  opinions  on  the  street. 
^^The  people  of  the  United  States  are  drawn 
from  many  nations,  and  chiefly  from  the  nations 
now  at  war.     It  is  natural  and  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  the  utmost  variety  of  sympathy 
and  desire  among  them  with  regard  to  the  issues 
and  circumstances  of  the  conflict.    Some  will  wish 
one   nation,    others    another,    to    succeed   in   the 
momentous  struggle.     It  will  be  easy  to  excite 
passion  and  difficult  to  allay  it.  Those  responsible 
for  exciting  it  will  assume  a  heavy  responsibility, 
responsibility  for  no  less  a  thing  than  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  whose  love  of  their 
country  and  whose  loyalty  to  their  government 
should  unite   them  as   Americans   all,  bound  in 
honor  and  affection  to  think  first  of  her  and  her 
interests,  may  be   divided  in   camps   of   hostile 
opinion,  hot  against  each  other,  involved  in  the 
war    itself    in    impulse    and    opinion    if    not    in 

action. 

' '  Such  divisions  among  us  would  be  fatal  to  our 
peace  of  mind  and  might  seriously  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  proper  performance  of  our  duty  as 
the  one  great  nation  at  peace,  the  one  people 
holding  itself  ready  to  play  a  part  of  impartial 


282  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

mediation  and  speak  the  counsels  of  peace  and 
accommodation,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a 
friend. 

**I  venture,  therefore,  my  fellow  countrymen, 
to  speak  a  solemn  word  of  warning  to  you 
against  that  deepest,  most  subtle,  most  essential 
breach  of  neutrality  w^hich  may  spring  out  of 
partisanship,  out  of  passionately  taking  sides. 
The  United  States  must  be  neutral  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name  during  these  days  that  are  to  try 
men's  souls.  We  must  be  impartial  in  thought 
as  well  as  in  action,  must  put  a  curb  upon  our 
sentiments  as  well  as  upon  every  transaction 
that  might  be  construed  as  a  preference  of  one 
party  of  the  struggle  before  another. 

^^My  thought  is  of  America.  I  am  speaking,  I 
feel  sure,  the  earnest  wish  and  purpose  of  every 
thoughtful  American  that  this  great  country  of 
ours,  which  is,  of  course,  the  first  in  our  thoughts 
and  in  our  hearts,  should  show  herself  in  this 
time  of  peculiar  trial  a  nation  fit  beyond  others 
to  exhibit  the  fine  poise  of  undisturbed  judgment, 
the  dignity  of  self-control,  the  efficiency  of  dis- 
passionate action;  a  nation  that  neither  sits  in 
judgment  upon  others  nor  is  disturbed  in  her 
own  counsels,  and  that  keeps  herself  fit  and  free 


AMERICA  FIRST  283 

to  do  what  is  honest  and  disinterested  and  truly 
serviceable  for  the  peace  of  the  world. 

^' Shall  we  not  resolve  to  put  upon  ourselves 
the  restraints  which  will  bring  to  our  people 
the  happiness  and  the  great  and  lasting  influence 
for  peace  we  covet  for  themf 

There  were  many  obstacles,  however,  in  the  way  of 
preserving  neutrality. 

The  composite  character  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  was  sufficient  warrant  for  his  determination  to 
maintain  neutrality.  But  since  no  great  nation  can  live 
to  itself  if  it  would,  its  neutrality  is  not  determined  solely 
by  its  own  choice  in  the  matter.  And  such  a  pressure 
was  brought  to  bear  on  this  nation  from  the  combatants 
in  Europe  that  maintaining  neutrality  was  the  hardest 
task  that  has  confronted  any  president  since  the  war  of 
1812. 

Nor  was  Mr.  Wilson  free  of  other  perplexities  when 
this  great  burden  was  laid  upon  his  shoulders.  The 
Anti-trust  Bills  were  still  before  the  Senate,  the  new 
banking  laws  were  not  fully  in  operation  and  the  Mexican 
problem  was  still  in  an  acute  state.  All  these  unsettled 
issues  made  the  task  of  preserving  neutrality  even  more 
difficult. 

The  first  obstacle  to  neutrality,  therefore,  was  the 
appeal  to  this  nation  to  throw  its  sympathies  with  one 


284  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

or  the  other  of  the  warring  forces.  It  reached  its  climax 
when  America  was  called  upon  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the 
act  of  Germany  in  declaring  war  against  Belgium  in  vio- 
lation of  a  written  agreement  among  the  European 
powers  to  preserve  the  neutrality  of  that  nation.  The 
United  States  was  not  a  party  to  that  agreement,  but  the 
Allies,  including  Belgium,  sent  representatives  to  this 
country  to  convince  this  nation  that,  in  the  interest  of 
humanity,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  American  government, 
the  greatest  of  neutral  nations,  to  act  vigorously  in  the 
matter  since  another  neutral  nation  had  been  outraged. 
Germany  sent  representatives  also  to  justify  her  act  and 
to  appeal  to  the  judgment  seat  of  the  American  people 
.for  vindication.  More  than  thirty  million  people  lined 
up  on  the  issue,  and  neutrality  of  feeling  was  impossible. 
President  Wilson,  however,  held  steadfastly  to  his  set- 
tled conviction  that  this  nation  must  remain  neutral. 
In  the  midst  of  charges  and  counter  charges,  denials 
and  defenses,  he  held  that  the  truth  or  falsity  of  conflict- 
ing evidence  must  be  measured  by  the  standard  of  inter- 
national law  and  justice. 

**The  guilty  will  then  inevitably  incur  the 
odium  of  the  civilized  world  and  those  falsely 
charged  will  be  vindicated.  It  is  this  future 
judgment  of  enlightened  nations  which  today 
must  restrain  the  warring  powers  from  inhuman 
practices,  rather  than  condemnation  by  neutral 


AMERICA  FIRST  285 

powers  for  charges  made  in  the  heat  of  conflict 
and  based  upon  incomplete  knowledge  of  all  the 
circumstances.  The  interest  of  humanity,  there- 
fore, could  be  best  served  by  America's  remain- 
ing neutral." 

It  was  urged  again  that  America  should  protest  because 
of  the  violation  of  the  rules  of  war  which  were  laid  down 
in  the  Hague  Conventions  and  because  of  the  disregard 
of  the  rules  of  humane  warfare  recognized  by  interna- 
tional usage  and  treaty  stipulations.  So  urgent  were  the 
demands  from  the  belligerents  that  American  citizens 
took  sides  on  the  question  and  the  "civil  war  by  proxy" 
was  a  menace  even  to  the  stability  of  this  nation. 

President  Wilson,  however,  remained  firm.  His  own 
convictions  as  to  the  right  policy  to  pursue  were  in  com- 
plete accord  with  the  historic  foreign  policy  of  this 
nation,  followed  in  the  main  by  every  president  from 
Washington  to  Roosevelt.  In  1907  the  delegates  to  the 
Hague  Conference  appointed  by  President  Roosevelt 
recorded  anew  the  policy  of  this  nation  in  international 
disputes,  and  the  American  policy  respecting  European 
politics  outlined  by  the  delegates  at  that  Conference  and 
ratified  by  the  American  government  is  stated  in  part  as 

follows : 

"Nothing  contained  in  this  convention  shall  be  so  con- 
strued as  to  require  the  United  States  of  America  to 
depart  from  its  traditional  poHcy  of  not  intruding  upon, 


286  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

interfering  with,  or  entangling  itself  in  the  political  ques- 
tions of  policy  or  internal  administration  of  any  foreign 
state/' 

The  purpose  of  this  clause  was  to  safeguard  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  a  history  of  which  appears  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter. And  owing  to  this  clause,  which  was  ratified  by  the 
American  government  during  President  Roosevelt's 
administration,  the  United  States  was  virtually  debarred 
from  forming  an  alliance  with  the  other  neutral  powers 
to  enforce  obedience  to  treaties  to  which  the  United  States 
was  not  a  party. 

Few  thoughtful  Americans  acted  at  the  time  as  if  this 
nation  should  interfere  with  the  acts  of  combatants  in  the 
European  war,  although  Germany  had  declared  war  on 
Belgium.  This  latter  nation  wished  to  remain  neutral 
but  circumstances  made  it  impossible  for  it  to  remain 
so,  and,  at  the  time  when  European  agents  were  at  work 
in  this  country,  Belgium  was  no  longer  neutral  but  one 
of  the  most  heroic  belligerents  of  the  war.  However,  tAVO 
years  after  the  invasion  Mr.  Wilson's  opponents  look 
back  with  something  akin  to  despair  because  of  the  con- 
tinued struggle  and  blame  him  for  permitting  it  to  last 
so  long,  and  one  way,  they  argue,  the  President  could 
have  stopped  the  war  was  to  have  protested  when  Ger- 
many violated  the  neutrality  of  Belgium. 

The  nations  had  been  at  war  only  a  short  time  when  it 
became  only  too  apparent  that  international  law  was  not 
as  strong  as  the  original  instinctive  law  of  self-preserva- 


AMERICA  FIRST  28t 

tion.  In  Europe  the  neutrality  of  small  nations  was  dis- 
regarded. But  America  was  virtually  stopped  from 
interfering  because  of  the  agreement  at  the  Hague  Con- 
vention. However,  a  great  reason  for  not  interfering 
where  an  obligation  was  wanting,  to  say  nothing  of  pre- 
sumption, was  the  second  obstacle  to  neutrality.  The 
rights  of  neutral  nations  on  the  high  seas  were  violated 
and  America  was  the  only  powerful  nation  left  to  defend 
them. 

This  world  shocking  war  was  conducted  on  a  plane 
hitlierto  unknown  and  when  this  nation  raised  its  first 
protest  against  the  belligerents  for  restricting  the  rights 
of  neutrals  on  the  high  seas,  it  was  contended  in  Europe 
that  existing  modes  of  warfare  made  possible  by  the 
invention  of  new  weapons  of  offense,  such  as  the  sub- 
marine, the  automobile,  contact  mines,  the  aeroplane,  and 
many  deadly  explosives,  not  only  justified  unprecedented 
measures  against  an  enemy  but  substantially  impaired 
the  rights  of  neutral  ships  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  the 
seas.  "A  nation  could  not  be  expected  to  consent  to  its 
own  destruction,"  was  Germany's  excuse  for  violating 
the  neutrality  of  Belgium.  ' '  A  nation  cannot  be  expected 
to  commit  suicide, ' '  was  England 's  excuse  for  disregard- 
ing the  rights  of  neutrals  on  the  high  seas,  and  later  for 
violating  the  territorial  rights  of  Greece. 

The  great  war  seemed  to  abrogate  all  former  interna- 
tional rules  concerning  trade  except  such  as  were  of 
distinct  advantage  to  the  nation  making  the  interpreta- 


288  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

tion.  The  interest  of  each  warring  nation  was  judged 
to  be  too  great  to  be  subservient  to  former  international 
law.  As  the  war  progressed,  however,  President  Wilson 
very  solemnly  reminded  the  belligerents  that  they  must 
not  ignore  "those  bonds  of  right  and  principles  which 
draw  the  nations  together  and  hold  the  community  of 
the  world  to  some  standard." 

Mr.  Wilson  foresaw  the  dangers  to  neutral  trade  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  and  five  days  after  the  outbreak 
our  State  Department  suggested  to  the  Allies  and  the 
Central  Powers  that  they  should  ^  ^  agree  that  the  laws  of 
naval  warfare,  as  laid  down  by  the  Declaration  of  London 
of  1909,  shall  be  applicable  to  naval  warfare  during  the 
present  conflict  in  Europe." 

These  laws  of  naval  warfare  were  formed  by  a  Con- 
ference, called  by  the  Government  of  Great  Britain, 
which  met  in  its  capital  and  they  were  accepted  at  the 
time  by  Great  Britain,  Germany,  the  United  States  and 
other  maritime  powers.  On  August  22,  1914,  the  Im- 
perial German  Government  replied  that  it  was  ready  to 
apply  the  Declaration  of  London  as  it  was  drawn.  But 
the  Government  of  Great  Britain  answered  that  it  was 
willing  to  abide  by  the  Declaration  "subject  to  certain 
modifications  and  additions."  Great  Britain,  therefore, 
proposed  to  change  the  laws  after  the  war  began,  that 
had  been  agreed  upon  by  maritime  countries  before  the 
war.  This  act  nullified  the  existing  laws  of  nations  con- 
cerning maritime  warfare.    And  the  great  war  was  being 


AMERICA  FIRST  289 

conducted  without  any  rule  to  guide  either  neutrals  or 
belligerents. 

Germany  and  England  began  simultaneously  to  sow 
contact  mines  as  a  means  of  defense  against  warships 
far  outside  the  three-mile  limit.  This,  of  course,  was  jus- 
tified on  the  grounds  that  the  modern  guns  had  a  much 
longer  range  than  three  miles,  and  this  violation  of  an 
old  international  rule  w^as  justified  by  both  belligerents 
on  the  grounds  of  self-preservation.  Owing  to  the  danger 
exposed,  on  account  of  these  mines,  the  military  areas 
were  made  to  exceed  anything  heretofore  included  in 
international  agreements.  The  British  Admiralty  an- 
nounced (November  2,  1914)  that  the  "whole  of  the 
North  Sea  must  be  considered  a  military  area ' '  and  mer- 
chant ships  were  warned  of  danger  from  mines  and 
warships. 

Moreover,  England  refused  to  accept  the  list  of  contra- 
band articles  as  set  forth  in  the  Declaration  of  London  in 
1909,  consisting  of  eleven  groups  of  articles.  But  by  the 
Order  in  Council  issued  October  29,  1914,  the  list  was 
more  than  doubled.  A  large  number  of  articles  which 
never  had  been  considered  in  the  light  of  contraband  was 
added  to  the  list.  Great  Britain's  answer  to  the  heated 
protests  from  exporters  and  importers  of  neutral  nations 
was  that  military  necessities  have  changed  with  the 
advance  in  industry. 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  Germany  would  close  with  the  declaration  of 


290  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

hostilities.  Moreover,  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
England  as  mistress  of  the  seas  would  place  restrictions 
upon  commerce  with  neutral  Europe,  and  that  the  United 
States,  the  only  high  power  neutral,  would  be  called  upon 
to  play  an  important  role  in  protecting  the  rights  of 
neutrals  on  the  high  seas. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  England  did  not  declare 
a  formal  blockade  of  German  ports,  and  the  cause  is 
obvious.  The  British  fleet  was  unable  to  control  the 
Baltic  Sea.  However,  under  the  famous  Order  in 
Council,  October,  1914,  a  blockade  was  really  begun,  and 
a  systematic  attempt  was  made  to  prevent  any  goods 
whatever  from  reaching  Germany  from  the  outside  world, 
and  equally  to  prevent  any  German  goods  from  going  to 
the  outside  world.  It  was  impossible  for  Great  Britain 
to  prohibit  commerce  between  Holland  and  Germany, 
between  the  Scandinavian  countries  and  Germany,  or 
between  Italy  and  Austria.  Therefore,  in  order  to  cut 
off  trade  that  might  land  at  one  of  the  neutral  ports  and 
thence  proceed  to  Germany,  Great  Britain  under  the 
larger  interpretation  of  international  law  claimed  the 
right  to  prevent  all  commerce  with  Germany  through  neu- 
tral ports.  The  principle  of  ''continuous  voyage"  and  of 
' '  ultimate  destination ' '  was  applied.  But  if  accepted  by 
the  nations,  it  rendered  the  cargo,  the  ultimate  destina- 
tion of  which  was  unknown,  liable  to  seizure  at  any  point 
on  its  way. 

International  law  does  not  prohibit  trade  between  neu- 


AMERICA  FIRST  291 

trals  and  belligerents.  Even  the  most  hard  pressed 
country  engaged  in  war  does  not  ask  for  such  a  drastic 
law  as  that.  But  it  is  one  of  the  rules  of  war  for  one 
belligerent  nation  to  prohibit  so  far  as  possible  all  trade 
between  its  antagonist  and  neutral  nations.  The  whole 
right  to  establish  a  blockade  rests  on  this  principle,  but 
how  far  that  right  extends  is  an  unsettled  question  and 
was  the  cause  of  many  diplomatic  notes  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

England's  conduct  in  seizing  and  searching  American 
vessels  on  the  high  seas  was  justified  in  that  she  was  act- 
ing in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  of  ''continuous 
voyage,"  a  doctrine  upheld  by  the  United  States  during 
the  Civil  War.  But  it  was  argued  in  America  that  Eng- 
land's policy  is  an  ''extension"  of  that  doctrine  and  is  a 
direct  contradiction  of  the  interpretation  of  the  doctrine 
made  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  The  whole 
matter  was  as  puzzling  as  it  could  be.  Diplomats,  experts, 
and  international  lawyers  found  it  hard  to  get  the  matter 
straight  in  their  own  minds.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore, 
that  the  American  people  have  not  found  the  way  to 
apportion  the  right  and  the  wrong  with  unerring  judg- 
ment. 

Every  vessel  from  American  ports  to  Europe  w^as 
scrutinized  by  the  English  navy  very  carefully  and  very 
often  American  vessels  were  seized  and  searched.  The 
Administration  protested  vigorously  against  the  British 
policy  of  seizing  vessels  containing  American  cargoes, 


292  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

declaring  "that  the  United  States  considers  it  best  to 
speak  in  terms  of  frankness,  lest  silence  be  construed  as 
an  acquiescence. ' ' 

England's  reply  was  hopeful,  since  it  assured  the 
United  States  that ' '  we  shall  endeavor  to  keep  our  action 
within  the  limits  of  this  principle — that  a  belligerent 
in  dealing  with  trade  between  neutrals  should  not  inter- 
fere unless  such  interference  is  necessary  to  protect  the 
belligerent's  national  safety  and  that  only  to  the  extent 
to  which  this  is  necessary — on  the  understanding  that 
it  admits  our  right  to  interfere  when  such  interference 
is  not  with  bona  fide  trade  between  the  United  States  and 
another  neutral  country,  but  with  trade  in  contraband 
destined  for  the  enemy's  country,  and  we  are  ready 
whenever  our  action  may  unintentionally  exceed  this 
principle,  to  make  redress!" 

This  seemed  to  be  fair  enough.  But  in  the  midst  of 
these  perplexities  England  made  her  own  interpreta- 
tions ;  and,  as  a  result,  a  large  number  of  American  ships 
carrying  American  cargoes  and  bound  for  neutral  ports 
were  seized  by  the  British  under  their  definition  of  an 
extended  blockade.  In  some  instances  these  ships  were 
finally  released;  but  the  cargoes  of  others  were  appro- 
priated ;  and  in  most  instances  American  shippers  were 
harassed  by  the  delay  and  expense  in  which  they  were 
involved.  Perhaps  the  most  exasperating  phase  of  Great 
Britain's  conduct  was  in  the  seizure  and  search  of  mail 
matter. 


AMEEICA  FUIST  293 

The  conduct  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  unsatisfactory 
outcome  of  this  correspondence,  was  exasperating  to 
many  American  citizens,  who  wished  to  see  American 
commerce  unhampered  and  this  country  to  establish 
lier  own  principle  in  lieu  of  that  of  either  belligerent 
nation.  Being  exasperated  almost  to  the  fighting  point 
certain  members  of  Congress  wished  to  see  America 
declare  an  embargo  on  all  ships  destined  for  English 
ports  in  order  to  punish  England  for  her  seizure  of 
American  vessels. 

In  Uie  midst  of  this  bitter  controversy,  Germany 
startled  this  nation,  as  well  as  all  neutral  nations,  by 
declaring  a  war  zone  around  the  British  Isles.  This  was 
Germany's  answer  to  England 's^  attempted  blockade 
and  the  extension  of  the  list  of  contraband  articles.  The 
following  war  zone  decree  was  issued  on  February  4, 
1915: 

"The  waters  around  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in- 
cluding the  whole  English  Channel,  are  declared  a  war 
zone  from  and  after  February  18,  1915,"  and  "every 
enemy's  merchant  vessel  found  in  this  war  zone  will  be 
destroyed,  even  if  it  is  impossible  to  avert  dangers  which 
threaten  the  crew  and  passengers. ' '  It  declared,  further- 
more, that  "neutral  ships  in  the  war  zone  are  in  danger 
as  in  consequence  of  the  misuse  of  neutral  flags  ordered 
by  the  British  Government  on  January  31,  and  in  view 
of  the  hazards  of  naval  warfare,  it  cannot  always  be 
avoided  that  attacks  meant  for  enemies'  ships  endanger 


294  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

neutral  ships."  The  danger  zone  was  further  laid  off 
as  follows :  * '  Shipping  northward,  around  the  Shetland 
Islands,  in  the  eastern  basin  of  the  North  Sea,  and  in 
a  strip  of  at  least  thirty  nautical  miles  in  breadth  along 
the  Dutch  Coast,  is  endangered  in  the  same  way.'* 

England  had  virtually  closed  the  North  Sea  to  neutral 
vessels.  Now  Germany  was  declaring  her  purpose  to 
close  the  waters  around  the  British  Isles  to  neutral 
vessels.  Thus,  the  two  nations  proposed  in  their  des- 
perate attempts  to  throttle  each  other,  to  close  all  the 
leading  trade  routes  to  European  ports,  regardless  of 
whether  the  countries  were  at  war  or  not.  England 
reserved  the  right  to  capture  neutral  vessels.  But  Ger- 
many went  a  step  further,  and  proposed  to  destroy  such 
vessels  without  safeguarding  the  passengers  that  might 
be  on  board. 

Germany's  action  was  vastly  more  significant  to  the 
United  States  than  England's  because  it  applied  to  the 
waters  surrounding  the  British  Isles,  those  most  fre- 
quented by  American  vessels.  When  the  German  decree 
reached  this  country  it  was  declared  to  be  ''extraor- 
dinary and  unprecedented."  And  millions  of  anti- 
German  partisans  sent  up  a  noise  that  still  vibrates. 

If  the  English  captured  American  vessels,  the  value 
of  the  loss  to  American  ship  owners  might  be  com- 
puted and  returned,  and  no  lives  would  be  endangered. 
But  if  Germany  sank  American  vessels,  American  lives 
might    be    lost    for   which    no    adequate    compensation 


AMERICA  FIRIST  295 

could  be  made.  Therefore,  the  German  declaration 
was  distinctly  more  threatening  than  the  English 
and  the  United  States  at  once  protested  vigorously. 
The  first  note  on  the  submarine  question  was  carefully 
prepared  by  Mr.  Wilson  and  his  cabinet  and  sent  by 
Mr.  Bryan,  Secretary  of  State.  The  illegality  of  the 
submarine  warfare  was  discussed  and  Germany  was 
finally  warned  that  if  the  commanders  of  German  ves- 
sels of  war  "should  destroy  on  the  high  seas  an  American 
vessel  or  the  lives  of  American  citizens,  the  United  States 
would  be  constrained  to  hold  the  Imperial  Government 
of  Germany  to  a  strict  accountability  for  such  acts  of 
their  naval  authorities." 

Germany  would  readily  agree  with  the  United  States 
that  to  destroy  ''on  the  high  seas"  an  American  vessel 
would  be  a  casus  helli.  But  Germany  did  not  admit 
that  the  war  zone  laid  off  by  that  Government  was  "on 
the  high  seas"  any  more  than  England's  war  zone 
was  "on  the  high  seas."  Therefore,  in  reply  to  the 
American  note  Germany  answered  that  neutral  vessels 
which  "entered  these  closed  waters,  will  themselves  bear 
the  responsibility  for  any  unfortunate  accidents  that 
may  occur. ' ' 

What  could  this  government  do  under  these  circum- 
stances?    Fight  both  Germany  and  England? 

It  was  quite  evident,  according  to  all  rules  of  inter- 
national law  heretofore  observed,  that  both  the  allies 
and   the   central   powers  were  violating  the   rights   of 


296  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

neutrals.  This  government  protested  strongly,  and  the 
replies  from  both  Germany  and  England  were  concilia- 
tory. Both  agreed  to  make  indemnities  for  American 
losses.  But,  it  was  pointed  out,  this  was  an  unusual  war. 
The  aggregate  fighting  powers  of  mankind,  the  machin- 
ery of  war,  and  the  skill  in  using  it  had  grown  immensely, 
and  the  existing  modes  of  warfare  made  possible  by 
the  new  weapons  of  offense  created  new  issues  not 
specified  in  the  old  rules  of  international  law.  There- 
fore, in  the  absence  of  precedent  each  nation  made  its 
own  rule,  and  the  neutral  countries  were  warned. 
Neutral  nations  had  one  of  two  courses  to  pursue:  to 
keep  its  vessels  and  citizens  out  of  this  war  zone  and 
out  of  European  trade,  or  protest  and,  perhaps,  go  to 
war.  The  American  people  were  so  stirred  by  the 
extraordinary  conditions  that  a  host  of  citizens  acted 
as  though  they  wanted  this  country  to  protest  and,  if 
necessary,  go  to  war.  But  they  were  unable  to  reach 
a  decision  as  to  which  side  we  should  battle  with.  In 
the  meantime  this  government  sought  to  reach  some 
understanding  between  the  mad  belligerents,  while  Eng- 
land was  trjdng  to  make  effective  her  blockade,  and 
Germany  w^as  inaugurating  her  submarine  warfare. 

This  nation  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  results. 
In  accordance  with  the  published  decree,  the  German 
submarine  warfare  began  on  time,  and  on  February  20 
an  American  cotton  ship,  the  Evelyn,  was  sunk  in  the 
North  Sea.    Three  days  later  another  cotton  carrier,  the 


AMERICA  FIRST  297 

Carihf  was  sunk,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  week,  even 
before  any  protest  from  this  nation  could  be  considered, 
the  German  submarine  warfare  was  playing  havoc  with 
English  shipping,  and  neutral  vessels  within  the  war 
zone  suffered  heavily. 

This  submarine  warfare  threatened  so  much  disaster 
that  the  allies  retaliated,  and  on  March  1,  France  and 
Great  Britain  ordered  an  extended  blockade.  The  pur- 
pose was  to  ''prevent  commodities  of  any  kind  from 
reaching  German  ports,"  whether  they  were  directed  to 
German  ports,  or  were  suspected  or  being  bound  for 
Germany  although  directed  to  neutral  ports !  This,  if 
accepted  by  the  United  States,  gave  England  the  right 
to  seize  and  search  any  vessel  bound  for  any  European 
port.  And  this  act  was  also  considered  in  America  as 
"unprecedented  and  extraordinary." 

The  Austro-German- Americans  and  their  sympathizers 
were  hardly  through  expressing  their  indignation  against 
England's  policy  and  particularly  against  the  President 
for  not  interfering  vigorously,  when  the  news  arrived 
that  a  German  submarine  had  sunk  the  British  pas- 
senger steamer  Falaba,  destroying  more  than  a  hundred 
unoffending  lives  and  among  them  one  American  citizen. 
This  was  the  occasion  for  English  and  Canadian  Amer- 
icans and  their  sympathizers  to  exhibit  countenances  of 
horror  and  hurl  maledictions  ag'ainst  evervthino:  German. 
Such  outcries  were  now  occurring  daily  in  the  United 
States,  not  in  Europe,  and  as  the  stories  of  insults  and 


298  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

injuries  and  rights  violated  were  trailed  through  the  par- 
tisan press,  the  divided  sympathies  in  America  reached 
such  a  state  of  excitement  and  antagonism  that  the  larger 
interests  of  the  American  nation  were  obscured. 

President  Wilson  warned  the  people  against  these 
agitators  who  were  trying  hard  '  ^  to  rock  the  boat. ' '  And 
later,  on  April  20,  in  an  address  to  the  Associated  Press 
of  New  York,  he  took  the  occasion  at  a  most  critical 
time  to  remind  the  people  of  the  United  States  once 
more  that  our  whole  duty  for  the  present  is  to  place 
''America  First"  and  to  think  of  her  position  in  the 
world.  So  many  people  were  thinking  of  Europe  and 
the  war  that  there  was  danger  of  America's  safety  fol- 
lowing the  thought  of  the  people  and  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  belligerents. 

^'I  want  to  talk  to  you  as  to  my  fellow  citizens 
of  the  United  States,'^  he  said.  ^'For  there  are 
serious  things,  which  as  fellow  citizens  we  ought 
to  consider.  The  times  behind  us,  gentlemen, 
have  been  difficult,  because  whatever  may  be  said 
about  the  present  condition  of  the  world's  affairs, 
it  is  clear  that  they  are  drawing  rapidly  to  a 
climax,  and  at  the  climax  the  test  will  come,  not 
only  of  the  nations  engaged  in  the  present  colossal 
struggle — it  Avill  come  for  them,  of  course — but 
the  test  will  come  to  us  particularly.'* 


AMEEICA  FIRST  299 

He  then  emphasized  more  forcibly  than  ever  before 
the  important  position  that  this  nation  holds  in  the 
world  today.  The  American  people  were  living  from 
moment  to  moment.  They  were  enraged  first  at  the 
conduct  of  England  in  seizing  our  vessels,  and  then  at 
the  acts  of  Germany  in  sinking  our  merchantmen.  The 
President,  however,  Avas  looking  forward  to  a  time  when 
this  nation,  because  of  its  neutral  position,  would  be 
called  upon  to  help  bring  order  out  of  chaos,  and  thus 
lead  the  world  back  to  paths  of  peace  and  honor. 

**We  shall  some  day  have  to  assist  in  recon- 
structing the  processes  of  peace,''  he  continued. 
*^Our  resources  are  untouched.  We  are  more 
and  more  becoming,  by  the  force  of  circumstances, 
the  mediating  nation  of  the  world  in  respect  of 
its  finances.  We  must  make  up  our  minds  what 
are  the  best  things  to  do  and  what  are  the  best 
ways  to  do  them.  We  must  put  our  money,  our 
energy,  our  enthusiasm,  our  sympathy  into  these 
things,  and  we  must  have  our  judgTQents  pre- 
j)ared  and  our  spirits  chastened  against  the  com- 
ing of  that  day.  So  that  I  am  not  speaking  in  a 
selfish  spirit  when  I  say  that  our  whole  duty 
for  the  present,  at  any  rate,  is  summed  up  in  this 
motto,  'America  first.'  Let  us  think  of  America 
before  we  think  of  Europe,  in  order  that  America 


300  ^^'OODROw  wilson  as  presidext 

may  be  fit  to  be  Europe's  friend  when  the  day 
of  tested  friendship  comes.  The  test  of  friend- 
ship is  not  now  sympathy  with  the  one  side  or 
the  other,  but  getting  ready  to  helj^  both  sides 
when  the  struggle  is  over." 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  this  had  been  the 
President's  theme,  that  America  should  be  ready  'Ho 
help  both  sides  when  the  struggle  is  over."  The  bel- 
ligerent nations  seemed  to  realize  from  the  first  that 
if  America  remained  neutral  she  would  have  a  com- 
manding position  when  the  war  closed.  But  the  Amer- 
ican people  apparently  did  not  realize  it  at  all,  judging 
from  the  clamor  in  this  country  against  the  combat- 
ants. And  the  President  seemed  to  be  determined  to 
make  them  see,  if  possible,  the  supreme  advantage  to 
themselves  and  to  the  world  in  remaining  neutral,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  American  commerce  was 
suffering  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe. 

**The  basis  of  neutrality,"  he  spoke  with  re- 
newed emphasis,  ^4s  not  independence;  it  is  not 
self-interest.  The  basis  of  neutrality  is  sym- 
pathy for  mankind.  It  is  fairness ;  it  is  good  will 
at  bottom.  It  is  impartiality  of  spirit  and  judg- 
ment. I  wish  that  all  of  our  fellow  citizens  could 
realize  that.     There  is  in  some  quarters  a  dis- 


AIMERICA  FIRST  301 

position  to  create  distempers  in  the  body  politic. 
Men  are  even  uttering  slanders  against  the 
United  States,  as  if  to  excite  her.  Men  are  saying 
that  if  we  should  go  to  war  upon  either  side, 
there  will  be  a  divided  America — an  abominable 
libel  of  ignorance !  America  is  not  all  of  it  vocal 
just  now.  It  is  vocal  in  spots.  But  I,  for  one, 
have  a  complete  and  abiding  faith  in  that  great 
silent  body  of  Americans  who  are  not  standing 
up  and  shouting  and  expressing  their  opinions 
just  now,  but  are  waiting  to  find  out  and  sup- 
port the  duty  of  America.  I  am  just  as  sure  of 
their  solidity  and  of  their  loyalty  and  of  their 
unanimity  as  I  am  that  the  history  of  this  coun- 
try has  at  every  crisis  and  turning  point  illus- 
trated this  great  lesson.'' 

]\Ir.  Wilson  then  undertook  to  explain  to  the  Amer- 
ican people  why  it  is  that  this  nation  is  a  mediating 
nation.  With  their  minds  always  centered  on  outrages 
against  this  nation,  the  vocal  part  of  the  American 
people  seemed  to  understand  least  of  all  the  President's 
viewpoint,  and  again  he  was  emphatic. 

*'We  are  the  mediating  nation  of  the  world," 
he  said.  *^I  do  not  mean  that  we  should  under- 
take not  to  mind  our  own  business  and  to  mediate 


302  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

where  other  people  are  quarreling.  I  mean  the 
word  in  a  broader  sense.  We  are  compounded 
of  the  nations  of  the  world.  We  mediate  their 
blood,  we  mediate  their  traditions,  we  mediate 
their  sentiments,  their  tastes,  their  passions;  we 
are  ourselves  compounded  of  those  things.  We 
are,  therefore,  able  to  understand  all  nations;  we 
are  able  to  understand  them  in  the  compound, 
not  separately  as  partisans,  but  unitedly,  as 
knowing  and  comprehending  and  embodying 
them  all.  It  is  in  that  sense  that  I  mean  that 
America  is  a  mediating  nation.  The  opinion  of 
America,  the  action  of  America,  is  ready  to  turn 
and  free  to  turn  in  any  direction. 

*^Did  you  ever  reflect  upon  how  almost  all 
other  nations,  almost  every  other  nation,  has, 
through  long  centuries,  been  headed  in  one  direc- 
tion? That  is  not  true  of  the  United  States. 
The  United  States  has  no  racial  momentum.  It 
has  no  history  back  of  it  which  makes  it  run  all 
its  energies  and  all  its  ambitions  in  one  particular 
direction;  and  America  is  particularly  free  in 
this,  that  she  has  no  hampering  ambitions  as  a 
world  power.  If  we  have  been  obliged  by  cir- 
cumstances, or  have  considered  ourselves  to  be 
obliged  by  circumstances,  in  the  past  to  take  ter- 


AMERICA  FIRST  303 

ritory  which  we  otherwise  would  not  have  thought 
of  taking,  I  believe  that  I  am  right  in  saying  that 
we  have  considered  it  our  duty  to  administer 
that  territory,  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  the 
people  living  in  it,  and  to  put  this  burden  upon 
our  consciences,  not  to  think  that  this  thing  is 
ours  for  our  use,  but  to  regard  ourselves  as 
trustees  of  the  great  business  for  those  to  whom 
it  really  does  belong,  trustees  ready  to  hand  it 
over  to  the  cestui  que  trust  at  any  time,  when 
the  business  seems  to  make  that  possible  and 
feasible. ' ' 

Realizing  that  the  nation,  or  a  large  part  of  it,  was  in 
a  fighting  mood  he  insisted  that  his  "interest  in  the 
neutrality  of  the  United  States  is  not  the  petty  desire 
to  keep  out  of  trouble,"  but  that  if  any  man  or  any 
nation  ''wants  a  scrap,  an  interesting  scrap  that  is 
worth  while,  I'm  his  man."  This  appealed  to  the 
heroic  in  the  nation  and  the  people  applauded.  Those 
were  days  that  tried  men's  souls  and  the  President  was 
holding  off  the  militaristic  party  with  one  hand  and  at 
the  same  time  pointing  to  something  more  glorious  than 
war. 

**I  am  interested  in  neutrality,"  he  said,  ** be- 
cause there  is  something  so  much  greater  to  do 


304  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

than  fight;  because  there  is  something,  there  is  a 
distinction  waiting  for  this  nation  that  no  nation 
has  ever  yet  got." 

And  that  distinction  was  to  come  from  self-control 
and  self-mastering.  In  concluding  this  address  he 
warned  the  newspaper  men  against  sending  out  sensa- 
tional disj^atches  hastily  and  without  sufficient  regard 
for  the  truth.  He  intimated  that  some  of  them  had 
already  been  too  careless,  and  he  pointed  out  the  dangers 
that  might  arise  at  this  period  of  unstable  equilibrium 
by  a  conscienceless  disregard  of  the  truth  or  a  morbid 
curiosity  for  the  sensational. 

^'If  I  permitted  myself  to  be  a  partisan  in  this 
present  struggle,'^  he  concluded,  ^'I  would  be 
unworthy  to  represent  you.  If  I  permitted  my- 
self to  forget  the  people  who  are  not  partisans, 
I  Avould  be  unworthy  to  represent  you.  I  am 
not  saying  that  I  am  worthy  to  represent  you, 
but  I  do  claim  this  degree  of  worthiness  that, 
before  everything  else,  I  love  America." 

The  American  people  paused  to  read  this  address  and 
to  discuss  it.  It  had  the  effect  of  drawing  out  the 
heretofore  non  vocal  part  of  the  American  people,  and 
while  the  two  great  partisan  factions  were  saying  wild 
and  extravagant  things  about  England  or  Germany  and 


AMERICA  FIRST  305 

prophesying  that  this  country  would  be  plunged  into 
war,  this  great  silent  but  serious  element  of  the  nation 
responded  to  the  President's  temper  and  showed  unmis- 
takably that  he  was  not  alone  in  following  an  exalted 
ideal. 

The  country  was  gradually  adjusting  itself  to  the 
new  conditions  made  necessary  on  account  of  the  war. 
Business  had  come  back  with  a  sharp  rebound.  The 
unemployed  w^ere  finding  new  opportunities  to  labor. 
Factories  became  alive  night  and  day.  Trade  began  to 
follow  many  of  the  old  accustomed  routes  and  American 
commerce  began  to  seek  new  fields.  From  every  section 
of  the  country  the  President  received  assurance  that 
this  country  was  sound  and  the  people  in  the  main 
were  thinking  of  '^ America  First,"  some  from  selfish 
motives,  others  from  a  high  moral  standpoint.  But 
apparently  the  great  majority  had  at  last  caught  the 
direction  that  the  President  pointed  out  in  the  beginning, 
and  they  were  at  last  holding  America  first  not  only 
in  their  affections  but  in  their  thoughts. 

However,  this  rebound  of. business  and  this  returning 
buoyancy  of  life  came  none  too  soon.  The  spring  of 
1915  opened  with  ominous  clouds  far  above  the  horizon. 
England,  the  mistress  of  the  seas,  was  making  it  less 
and  less  possible  for  trading  vessels  of  neutral  nations 
to  enter  European  ports.  Germany,  finding  in  these 
acts  an  excuse  to  retaliate,  began  a  submarine  warfare 
that  threatened  every  crew,  passenger,  cargo,  and  vessel 


306  WOODROW  \YILSOX  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  entered  the  waters  adjacent  to  Europe,  and  America 
passed  from  the  period  of  proclaimed  neutrality  to  that 
of  defending  that  neutrality,  and  holding  the  nations 
of  Europe  to  some  ethical  standard. 

In  the  attempt,  therefore,  to  keep  America  first  in  the 
minds  of  the  citizens  of  this  nation  and  to  hold  the 
nations  of  Europe  to  some  ethical  standard,  new  issues 
were  born  or  became  prominent  that  eclipsed  all  former 
issues  and  set  this  nation  forward  on  a  new  journey. 

In  his  attempts  to  guide  the  nation  in  this  new  journey, 
Mr.  Wilson  kept  the  watchword,  "America  First,"  al- 
ways before  the  people.  When  certain  hyphenated 
American  citizens  seemed  for  the  time  to  be  losing  their 
loyalty,  he  sent  a  challenge  to  "every  man  and  woman 
who  thinks  first  of  America  to  rally  to  the  standards  of 
our  life ; ' '  and  groups  of  foreign  born  citizens  formed 
patriotic  societies  and  pledged  their  loyalty  anew  to 
America.  And  when  it  appeared  that  all  patience  had 
been  exhausted  and  that  America  would  break  with 
Germany,  "America  First"  was  the  talisman  that 
calmed  the  emotions  and  gave  the  heart  courage. 


CHAPTER  XV 
HOLDING    THE    WORLD    TO    SOME    STANDARD 

The  American  government  contended  from  the  first 
for  the  rights  of  all  neutrals  and  sought  a  common 
understanding  between  the  allies  and  the  central 
powers.  The  effort,  however,  to  hold  the  world  to  some 
ethical  standard  was  apparently  ineffective.  The  slow 
but  calculating  Englishman,  with  disregard  for  previous 
rules  of  conduct,  continued  to  widen  the  war  zone,  to 
increase  the  number  of  contraband  articles,  and  to  cap- 
ture American  vessels.  The  infuriated  German,  going 
the  Englishman  one  better,  marked  off  another  war 
zone,  called  it  a  closed  sea,  and  showed  a  determination 
''to  exact  the  utmost  quantity  of  destruction  and  killing 
from  the  allies,  no  matter  what  happened  to  innocent 
subjects  of  the  allies,  and  no  matter  what  absolutely 
innocent  neutrals  suffered." 

It  was  not  until  America  "had  its  own  list  of  out- 
rages" that  this  government  undertook  with  any  con- 
vincing power  to  bring  the  warring  nations,  to  some 
ethical  standard.  These  outrages  had  already  begun 
in  April  when  the  President,  in  speaking  to  the  Press 
Association,  declared  that  if  any  nation  "wants  a  scrap, 

.307 


308  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

an  interesting  scrap  that  is  worth  while,  I'm  his  man." 
Within  less  than  a  week  from  that  day  the  American 
Oil  Tank  Steamer  dishing  was  damaged  by  a  mine  or 
submarine,  later  (I\Iay  1)  the  Steamer  Gulflight,  another 
American  vessel,  was  sunk  off  the  Scilly  Islands,  with  a 
loss  of  three  lives.  But  on  May  7  the  greatest  tragedy  of 
the  war  occurred.  The  great  transatlantic  liner,  the 
Lusitania,  bound  from  New  York  to  Liverpool,  carrying 
an  enormous  quantity  of  war  material  and  having  a  pas- 
senger list  of  2,104  men,  v/omen,  and  children,  including 
187  Americans,  was  sunk  by  a  German  submarine,  and 
about  1,500  passengers  were  lost,  including  over  a 
hundred  Americans. 

It  really  appeared  at  the  time  that  one  nation,  at  least, 
was  looking  ' '  for  a  scrap ' '  with  this  country.  And  these 
tragedies,  culminating  in  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania, 
aroused  the  war  spirit  in  this  country  almost  beyond  the 
control  of  the  few  cool  heads  who  were  endeavoring  to 
keep  the  government  steady  in  the  great  crisis. 

The  American  people  at  once  indicted  the  whole  Ger- 
man nation  for  the  willful,  brutal  murder  of  innocent 
men,  women,  and  children.  The  English  nation  was 
already  convicted  of  forcible  trespass ;  but,  before  the 
bar  of  public  opinion,  the  trial  for  murder  superseded 
all  other,  cases  on  the  docket,  the  verdict  was  announced 
simultaneously  with  the  drawing  of  the  indictment  and 
summary   punishment   was   demanded.     But   since   the 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  309 

executioner  was  the  President  of  the  United  States,  there 
was  a  stay  of  judgment  while  the  partisans  raged  and 
the  people  imagined  vain  things. 

This  nation  became  so  excited  that  the  press  of  the 
country,  with  some  notable  exceptions,  was  clamoring 
for  war  with  Germany.  IMany  went  so  far  as  to  say 
that  the  act  of  sinking  the  Liisitania  was  deliberately 
framed  and  executed  by  Germany  to  draw  the  United 
States  into  war,  since  that  nation,  already  hard  pressed 
by  the  allies  and  seeing  the  end,  was  seeking  an  excuse 
for  suing  for  peace.  Subsequent  events  have  proven 
how  little  these  prophets  knew.  However,  many  of  them 
published  newspapers  and  furnished  the  material  from 
which  even  millions  of  American  citizens  made  up  their 
opinions.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  for  the  public, 
having  accepted  the  above  statement,  to  go  a  step  farther 
and  reach  the  conclusion  that  the  President's  attitude 
had  been  w^rong  all  the  time,  since  he  could  have  ended 
the  slaughter  and  coaxed  back  to  earth  the  beautiful 
dove  of  peace,  if  he  had  declared  war,  or  made  a  noise 
like  war,  when  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  was  violated. 
His  critics  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  if  he  had 
gone  down  into  ^Mexico  with  a  big  army,  he  would  have 
so  impressed  Europe  that  even  the  European  war  might 
have  been  averted. 

The  voice  was  so  loud  for  immediate  war  with  Ger- 
many  that   even   the   thoughtful   conservatives   became 


310  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

uneasy.  In  the  midst  of  it  all,  however,  President  Wilson 
kept  his  head,  while  the  storm  raged  furiously  about 
him. 

Three  days  after  this  great  tragedy,  President  Wilson 
without  having  indicated  to  the  public  what  his  first  act 
would  be,  journeyed  to  Philadelphia  to  address  a 
large  body  of  foreign-born  citizens  who  were  completing 
their  probationary  term  and  becoming  naturalized. 
Those  who  accompanied  him  on  that  journey  saw  that 
the  President  of  the  United  States  was  aware  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  facing  the  greatest  crisis  of  his 
administration,  and  that  the  future  of  this  nation 
would  be  affected  greatly  by  the  course  that  he  chose 
to  follow. 

The  Philadelphia  speech  contained  no  word  to  in- 
dicate that  anything  unusual  had  happened  or  would 
happen.  It  was  a  well  conceived  address  suitable  to  the 
occasion,  but  containing  nothing  of  special  interest  to 
the  nation  at  that  time  save  in  one  paragraph: 

'^America,''  lie  said,  ^^must  have  the  conscious- 
ness that  on  all  sides  it  touches  elbows  and 
touches  heart  mth  all  the  nations  of  mankind. 
The  example  of  America  must  be  a  special 
example,  and  must  be  an  example  not  merely  of 
peace,  because  it  will  not  fight,  but  because  peace 
is  a  healing  and  elevating  influence  of  the  world. 


HOLDING  TO  A  STAXDAIID  311 

and  strife  is  not.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a 
man  being  too  proud  to  fight.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it  does  not 
need  to  convince  others  by  force  that  it  is  right.'' 

It  was  the  last  two  sentences  especially  that  attracted 
attention.  The  entire  address  and  the  occasion  have 
all  been  forgotten  by  the  public,  but  these  two  sentences 
are  still  quoted  by  controversialists  who  seek  to  prove 
or  disprove  the  wisdom  of  his  foreign  policy.  These 
sentences  were  caught  up  and  ridiculed.  ' '  Too  proud  to 
fight!"  And  Germany  slapping  this  nation  in  the 
face!  "There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so  right 
that  it  does  not  need  to  convince  others  by  force  that  it 
is  right!"  And  the  whole  world  sneering  at  us  in  our 
humiliation  I 

In  all  the  tremendous  excitement  following  this 
tragedy  and  the  ridicule  that  was  heaped  upon  these 
sentences,  the  President  maintained  his  poise,  but  de- 
cided to  make  no  more  speeches  for  the  present.  Still 
the  people  waited  for  some  sign  as  to  what  course  this 
nation  would  take. 

Three  days  after  the  Philadelphia  speech,  and  six  days 
after  the  tragedy,  the  President,  by  the  aid  of  his 
cabinet,  had  prepared  a  note  to  be  sent  to  Germany. 
The  American  people  were  straining  every  nerve  to  guess 
its  contents.  What  words  would  be  adequate  to  the 
offense?     What  could  Germany  do  to  avert  war  with 


312  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

this  nation?     Then  the  world  was  advised  that  the  note 
had  been  sent. 

In  a  calm  and  dignified  way  the  President  reviewed 
the  effect  of  the  submarine  w^arfare  on  American  lives 
and  American  interests.  The  Falaba,  the  Gushing,  the 
Gulflight,  and  finally  the  torpedoing  and  sinking  of  the 
steamship  Lusitania  "constitute  a  series  of  events,"  the 
note  declared,  "which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  observed  w^ith  growing  concern,  distress,  and 
amazement.  ...  It  cannot  now  believe  that  these 
acts,  so  contrary  to  the  rule,  the  policies,  and  the  spirit 
of  modern  warfare,  could  have  the  countenance  or  sanc- 
tion of  that  great  Government.  .  .  .  "  The  note  then 
renewed  the  excuse  offered  by  Germany  at  the  beginning 
01  the  submarine  warfare  for  resorting  to  this  mode 
of  defense. 

^'Tlie  Government  of  the  United  States,"  the 
note  continued,  ^'has  been  apprised  that  the  Im- 
perial German  Government  considered  themselves 
to  be  obliged  by  the  extraordinary  circumstances 
of  the  present  war,  and  the  measures  adopted  by 
their  adversaries  in  seeking  to  cut  Germany  off 
from  all  commerce,  to  adopt  methods  of  retalia- 
tion which  go  much  beyond  the  ordinary  methods 
of  warfare  at  sea,  in  the  proclamation  of  a  war 
zone  from  which  they  have  warned  neutral  ships 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  3^3 

to  keep  away.  This  Government  has  already 
taken  occasion  to  inform  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment that  it  cannot  admit  the  adoption  of  such 
measures  or  such  a  warning  of  danger  to  operate 
as  in  any  degree  an  abbreviation  of  the  rights 
of  American  shipmasters  or  of  American  citizens 
bound  on  lawful  errands  as  passengers  on  mer- 
chant ships  of  belligerent  nationality;  and  that 
it  must  hold  the  Imperial  German  Government  to 
a  strict  accountability  for  any  infringement  of 
those  rights,  intentional  or  incidental.  It  does 
not  understand  the  Imperial  German  Govenmaent 
to  question  those  rights.  It  assumes,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  the  Imperial  German  Government 
accepts,  as  of  course,  the  rule  that  the  lives  of 
non-combatants,  whether  they  be  of  neutral 
citizenship  or  citizens  of  one  of  the  nations  at 
war,  cannot  lawfully  or  rightfully  be  put  in 
jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruction  of  an 
unarmed  merchantman,  and  recognizes  also,  as  all 
other  nations  do,  the  obligation  to  take  the  usual 
precaution  of  visit  and  search  to  ascertain 
whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is  in  fact 
carrying  contraband  of  war  under  a  neutral 
flag.'' 


314  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

The  note  then  called  "the  attention  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government"  to  the  fact  that  the  submarine 
warfare  could  not  be  carried  on  and  the  rights  of  non- 
combatants  be  respected,  since  the  attack  must  be  so 
sudden  that  safety  cannot  be  given  to  the  passengers. 

^'Manifestly,  submarines  cannot  be  used  against 
merchantmen,  as  the  last  few  weeks  have  showm, 
without  an  inevitable  violation  of  many  sacred 
principles  of  justice  and  humanity.'' 

Moreover,  the  rights  of  American  citizens  were  clearly 
defined.     It  was  declared  that: 

*^  American  citizens  act  within  their  indisput- 
able rights  in  taking  their  ships  and  in  traveling 
wherever  their  legitimate  business  calls  them 
upon  the  high  seas,  and  exercise  those  rights  in 
what  should  be  the  well- justified  confidence  that 
their  lives  will  not  be  endangered  by  acts  done 
in  clear  violation  of  universally  acknowledged 
international  obligations,  and  certainly  in  the 
confidence  that  their  own  government  will  sus- 
tain them  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights.'' 

The  President  referred  to  the  act  of  the  German 
Ambassador  at  Washington  in  addressing,  through  the 
newspapers,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  which 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  315 

he  said,  "that  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  who 
exercised  his  right  of  free  trade  upon  the  seas  would 
do  so  at  his  peril  if  his  journey  should  take  him  within 
the  zone  of  waters  within  which  the  Imperial  German 
Navy  was  using  submarines  'against  the  commerce  of 
Great  Britain  and  France.'  "  And  this  act  was  char- 
acterized as  a  ''surprising  irregularity." 

He  concluded  the  note  with  a  strong  statement  of  this 
Government's  attitude: 

*^It  confidently  expects,  therefore,  that  the 
Imperial  German  Government  will  disavow  the 
acts  of  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  complains ;  that  they  will  make  reparation 
so  far  as  reparation  is  possible  for  injuries  which 
are  without  measure,  and  that  they  will  take 
immediate  steps  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of 
anything  so  obviously  subversive  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  warfare  for  which  the  Imperial  German 
Government  has  in  the  past  so  wisely  and   so 

firmly  contended. 

"The  Government  and  people   of  the  United 

States  look  to  the  Imperial  German  Government 

for  just,  prompt,  and  enlightened  action  in  this 

vital  matter,  with  the  greatest  confidence,  because 

the    United    States    and    Germany    are    bound 

together  not  only  by  special  ties  of  friendship, 


316  WOODROW  \YILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

but  also  by  tlie  explicit  stipulations  of  the  Treaty 
of  1828,  between  the  United  States  and  the  King- 
dom of  Prussia. 

^^Expressions  of  regret  and  offers  of  repara- 
tion in  the  case  of  the  destruction  of  neutral 
ships  sunk  by  mistake,  while  they  may  safely 
satisfy  international  obligations,  if  no  loss  of  life 
results,  cannot  justify  or  excuse  a  practice,  the 
natural  and  necessary  effect  of  w^hich  is  to  sub- 
ject neutral  persons  to  new  and  immeasurable 
risks. 

^'The  Imperial  German  Government  will  not 
expect  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to 
omit  any  word  or  any  act  necessary  to  the  per- 
formance of  its  sacred  duty  of  maintaining  the 
rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citizens  and 
of  safeguarding  their  free  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment. ' ' 

The  President  was  appealing  to  Germany's  great 
traditions  and  to  her  sense  of  honor  and  of  justice ;  he 
was  pleading,  not  for  the  safety  of  American  citizens 
alone,  but  for  the  cause  of  humanity,  and  he  was  en- 
deavoring to  do  what  war  could  not  do;  namely,  exalt 
the  rule  of  right  which  ''holds  the  community  of  the 
world  to  some  standard."  Germany  had  at  last  been 
brought  before  the  American  judgment  seat. 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  317 

There  was  no  evidence  of  ridicule  anywhere  when  this 
note  was  published.  On  the  contrary,  peoi3le  everywhere 
rejoiced,  and  Americans  were  proud  of  their  Tresident. 
And  as  one  metropolitan  newspaper  (The  New  York 
Times)  said,  "Every  American  citizen  must  be  willing 
to  affix  his  signature  in  approval  of  the  firm  but  tem- 
perate tone  and  the  indisputable  justice  of  its  repre- 
sentations and  demands." 

This  note  seemed  fully  to  satisfy  the  American  public. 
No  act  since  the  beginning  of  his  administration  received 
such  universal  approval  by  all  parties  and  all  classes  of 
people.  And  his  policies  were  now  in  great  favor.  Even 
the  Philadelphia  speech  was  forgotten  for  the  time. 

Germany's  reply,  however,  which  came  on  May  29, 
was  very  unsatisfactory.  It  stated  that  Germany  had 
no  intention  of  "submitting  neutral  ships,  which  are 
guilty  of  no  hostile  acts,  to  attacks  by  a  submarine. ' '  But 
if  such  ships  have  suffered  the  note  declared  that  it  was 
owing  to  mistakes  in  identification  attributable  to  the 
British  government's  use  of  neutral  flags.  In  regard  to 
the  Falaha  it  said:  "In  the  case  of  the  sinking  of  the 
English  steamer  Falaha,  the  commanding  officers  of  the 
German  submarine  had  the  intention  of  allowing  pas- 
sengers and  crew  ample  opportunity  to  save  themselves. ' ' 
But  as  to  the  right  to  sink  vessels  in  the  "closed  sea" 
marked  off  by  Germany,  the  note  attempted  to  justify 
the  sinking  of  the  Liisitania  on  the  grounds  that  it  was 
an  auxiliary  cruiser  and  a  munition  carrier,  but  it  did 


318  WOODROW  WILSOX  AS  PRESIDENT 

express  "deep  regret  to  the  neutral  Governments  con- 
cerned that  nationals  of  those  countries  lost  their  lives 
on  that  occasion." 

This  note  was  published  to  the  world  on  May  30,  and 
its  incompleteness  jarred  this  nation  violently.  It  was  the 
signal  for  the  press  of  this  country  to  break  out  anew. 
In  fact,  it  appeared  that  the  press  of  the  country  had 
joined  a  militaristic  party  to  drive  the  nation  into  war ; 
and  since  the  public  drew  its  information  from  the  press, 
the  vocal  part  of  this  country  was  in  a  great  passion 
again.  This  condition  led  the  editor  of  the  Review  of 
Reviews  to  declare  that  "the  most  sickening  thing  in 
American  history,  perhaps,  was  the  reckless  gloating  of 
American  newspapers  over  a  dangerous  situation  that 
they  were  doing  everything  in  their  power  to  create. '  * 

On  June  1,  while  the  feeling  was  intense,  Germany 
declared  that  the  attack  on  the  Steamer  Giilflight  was 
due  "to  an  unfortunate  accident."  Moreover,  it  ex- 
pressed regrets  "to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
concerning  this  incident,"  and  declared  "itself  ready  to 
furnish  full  compensation  for  the  damage  thereby  sus- 
tained by  American  citizens." 

This  gave  some  encouragement  to  this  country  that 
Germany  was  yielding  somewhat  in  her  demands.  How- 
ever, on  June  2,  President  Wilson  held  an  interview  with 
Count  Von  Bernstoff,  the  German  Ambassador,  and 
during  the  day  the  White  House  was  deluged  with 
telegrams  from  American  citizens  of  German  birth  and 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  319 

German  societies  in  this  eonntry,  beseeching  the  Presi- 
dent not  to  take  drastic  action  in  the  German  crisis. 

The  situation  was  so  critical  that  the  President's 
Cabinet  took  a  most  gloomy  view  of  the  probable  out- 
come. The  Secretary  of  State,  I\Ir.  Bryan,  one  of  the 
greatest  advocates  of  peace  in  this  country,  fearing  that 
this  nation  was  drifting  into  war  with  Germany,  resigned 
from  the  Cabinet.  His  resignation  came  before  the 
reply  to  Germany's  note  was  completed  and  his  act 
increased  the  fear  that  the  President  was  preparing  an 
ultimatum  that  would  mean  war. 

The  reply  to  Germany  was  forwarded  on  June  9. 
But  the  newspapers  of  America  did  not  receive  it  until 
two  days  later. 

After  reviewing  the  points  that  were  concurred  in 
by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  and  those  that 
were  not  accepted  by  that  nation,  the  Administration 
declared  in  the  second  note  that : 

'^  Whatever  be  the  other  facts  regarding  the 
Lusitania,  the  principal  fact  is  that  a  great 
steamer,  primarily  and  chiefly  a  conveyance  for 
passengers,  and  carrying  more  than  a  thousand 
souls,  who  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  conduct  of 
the  war,  was  torpedoed  and  sunk  without  so  much 
as  a  challenge  or  a  warning,  and  that  men,  women, 
and  children  were  sent  to  their  death  in  circum- 


320  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

stances  unparalleled  in  modern  warfare.  Tlie 
fact  tliat  more  than  100  American  citizens  were 
among  those  who  perished  made  it  the  duty  of 
the  Govermnent  of  the  United  States  to  speak  of 
these  things,  and  once  more,  with  solemn 
emphasis,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government  to  the  grave  responsibility 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  con- 
ceives that  it  has  incurred  in  this  tragic  occur- 
rence, and  to  the  indisputable  principle  upon 
which  that  responsibility  rests. 

*^The  Govermnent  of  the  United  States  is  con- 
tending for  something  much  greater  than  mere 
rights  of  property  or  privileges  of  commerce. 
It  is  contending  for  nothing  less  high  and  sabered 
than  the  rights  of  humanity,  which  every  Govern- 
ment honors  itself  in  respecting,  and  which  no 
Government  is  justified  in  resigning  on  behalf  of 
those  under  its  care  and  authority.  Only  her 
actual  resistance  to  capture,  or  refusal  to  stop 
when  ordered  to  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  visit, 
would  have  affarded  the  commander  of  the  sub- 
marine any  justification  for  so  much  as  putting 
the  lives  of  those  on  board  in  jeopardy.  This 
principle  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
understands    the    explicit    instruction    issued    on 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  321 

August  3,  1914,  by  the  Imperial  German  Ad- 
miralty to  its  Commanders  at  sea  to  have  recog- 
nized and  embodied,  as  do  the  moral  codes  of  all 
other  nations,  and  upon  it  every  traveler  and 
seaman  had  a  right  to  depend.  It  is  upon  this 
principle  of  humanity,  as  well  as  upon  the  laAV 
founded  upon  this  principle,  that  the  United 
States  must  stand/' 

The  note  expressed  the  desire  of  the  Administration 
to  act  on  the  suggestion  from  Germans  that  the  United 
States  Government  use  its  good  offices  in  an  attempt  to 
find  some  basis  for  an  understanding  between  Germany 
and  England  by  which  the  character  and  conditions  of 
war  upon  the  sea  may  be  changed.  Then  he  returned 
to  the  issue  between  these  two  nations. 

'^The  Government  of  the  United  States,  there- 
fore, very  earnestly  and  very  solemnly  renews 
the  representations  of  the  note  transmitted  to 
the  Imperial  German  Government  on  the  15th  of 
May,  and  relies  in  these  representations  upon 
the  principles  of  humanity,  the  universally  recog- 
nized understandings  of  international  law,  and 
the  ancient  friendship  of  the  German  nation. 

*'The  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot 
admit  that  the  proclamation  of  a  war  zone  from 


322  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

whicli  neutral  ships  have  been  warned  to  keep 
away  may  be  made  to  operate  as  in  any  degree 
an  abbreviation  of  the  rights  either  of  the  Amer- 
ican ship  masters  or  of  American  citizens  bound 
on  lawful  errands  as  passengers  on  merchant 
ships  of  belligerent  nationality.  It  does  not 
understand  the  Imperial  German  Government  to 
question  those  rights.  It  understands  it  also  to 
accept  as  established  beyond  question  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  lives  of  non-combatants  cannot 
lawfully  or  rightfully  be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the 
capture  or  destruction  of  an  unresisting  mer- 
chantman, and  to  recognize  the  obligation  to  take 
sufficient  precaution  to  ascertain  whether  a  sus- 
pected merchantman  is  in  fact  of  belligerent 
nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband  of 
war  under  a  neutral  flag.  The  Government  of 
the  United  States  deems  it  reasonable  to  expect 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  will  adopt 
the  measures  necessary  to  put  these  principles 
into  practice  in  respect  to  the  safeguarding  of 
American  lives  and  American  ships,  and  asks 
for  assurance  that  this  will  be  done.'' 

The  nation  was  in  ecstasies  over  this  note  and  there 
were  repeated  expressions  of  profound  gratitude  to  the 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  323 

President  of  the  United  States  for  having  taken  a  course 
exactly  opposite  to  that  which  the  newspapers,  through 
many  anxious  days,  had  announced  that  he  would  take. 
And  the  effect  in  the  minds  of  a  troubled  nation  ''was 
like  that  of  a  beautiful  June  morning  after  threatening 
skies  and  unverified  predictions  of  floods  and  cyclones." 

This  note  had  a  good  effect  on  the  German  nation  as 
well,  as  the  reply  of  July  8  shows.  It  declared  that 
"Germany  has  likewise  been  always  tenacious  of  the 
principle  that  war  should  be  conducted  against  the 
armed  and  organized  forces  of  the  enemy,  but  that  the 
civilian  population  of  the  enemy  should  be  spared  as  far 
as  possible  from  the  measures  of  war."  It  then  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  some  way  may  be  found  "to 
regulate  the  law  of  maritime  war  in  a  manner  guaran- 
teeing the  freedom  of  the  seas  and  will  welcome  it  with 
gratitude  and  satisfaction  if  it  can  work  hand  in  hand 
with  the  American  Government  in  that  occasion." 

After  stressing  the  fact  that  it  was  necessary  for  the 
German  Government  in  this  fight  for  existence  "to  do 
all  within  its  power  to  protect  and  save  the  lives  of 
German  subjects,  the  note  declared  that  the  Imperial 
Government ' '  repeats  the  assurance  that  American  ships 
will  not  be  hindered  in  the  prosecution  of  legitimate 
shipping,  and  the  lives  of  American  citizens  on  neutral 
vessels  shall  not  be  placed  in  jeopardy." 

In  this  world  shocking  war,  with  the  previous 
standards    destroyed,    the    conscience    of    the    warring 


324  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

nations  was  at  last  being  drawn  out  to  recognize  that, 
in  all  the  confusion  a  law  higher  tlian  their  own  selfish 
interest  still  lived. 

Germany's  reply  was  so  conciliatory  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  were  calming  down.  Moreover,  the 
submarine  warfare  was  greatly  subsiding,  and  all  parties 
in  America  were  really  giving  the  President  great  credit 
for  having  accomplished  a  supposedly  impossible  task — 
the  restoration  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  justice  to 
humanity  in  the  war  zone. 

However,  after  this  note  was  written  the  Nehraskan, 
another  American  vessel  was  torpedoed.  But  the  Ger- 
man Government  at  once  notified  this  nation  that  the 
sinking  of  this  vessel  was  ''an  unfortunate  accident" 
and  the  German  Government  "expressed  its  regret  at 
the  occurrence  .  .  .  and  declared  its  readiness  to 
make  compensation  for  the  damage  thereby  sustained  by 
American  citizens." 

The  stand  taken  by  the  United  States  in  the  interests 
of  humanity  was  holding  the  w^orld  to  some  standard. 
The  judgment  of  enlightened  public  opinion  was  having 
a  greater  effect  on  the  belligerents  and  especially  Ger- 
many than  any  positive  aid  that  this  nation  could  have 
given  the  allies.  On  September  1,  the  German  Ambas- 
sador gave  out  an  official  statement  that  ''liners  will 
not  be  sunk  by  our  submarines  without  warning  and 
without  safety  of  the  lives  of  non-combatants,  provided 
that  the  liners  do  not  try  to  escape  or  offer  resistance." 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  325 

However,  on  August  19,  the  Arahic  of  tlie  White  Star 
Line  was  torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine,  and 
American  lives  were  again  destroyed.  The  Arahic  was 
the  largest  of  the  English  munition-carriers.  It  was  only 
incidentally  a  passenger  ship,  and  when  she  sailed  from 
New  York  on  July  28,  she  carried,  it  is  said,  the  greatest 
cargo  of  war  munitions  that  ever  left  America.  More- 
over, the  Arabic  had  been  transferred  from  another  route 
for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  war  munitions.  For 
months,  before  the  sinking  of  the  vessel,  German  sub- 
marines, it  is  said,  had  been  trying  to  intercept  her. 
And  when  the  deed  was  finally  done,  the  press  of  the 
country  again  came  forth  with  their  war  head  lines, 
without  securing  all  the  attending  circumstances,  and 
again  the  intense  feeling  of  a  large  part  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  was  worked  into  a  state  of  frenzy 
because  the  Arahic  case  seemed  to  be  related  to  the  con- 
troversy over  the  Lusiiania.  But  the  President  pro- 
ceeded as  deliberately  as  before. 

In  due  time  the  German  Ambassador  notified  the 
Administration  that  ''the  Imperial  Government  regrets 
and  disavows  this  act,  and  has  notified  Commander 
Schneider  accordingly."  Moreover,  it  was  declared, 
' '  under  these  circumstances  my  Government  is  prepared 
to  pay  an  indemnity  for  American  lives  which,  to  its 
deep  regret,  have  been  lost  on  the  Arahic."  As  a  result 
of  the  diplomatic  correspondence  following  the  sinking 
of  the  Liisitania,  Germany  finally  admitted  that  Amer- 


326  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ican  ships  have  a  right  to  sail  through  the  war  zone 
without  danger  of  submarine  attacks,  that  American 
ships  carrying  conditional  contraband  on  merchant  ves- 
sels of  belligerents,  are  not  to  be  put  in  danger,  and 
finally  that  neutral  merchantmen  of  other  nations  ''are 
exempt  from  interference  except  when  carrying  contra- 
band." 

The  President's  policies  were  at  last  about  to  triumph. 
Not  only  American  merchantmen,  but  those  of  all 
neutral  nations  prospered  by  his  leadership.  The  war 
had  been  in  progress  eighteen  months,  but  it  had  settled 
nothing.  A  diplomatic  contest  had  been  waged  about 
nine  months,  and  the  results  were  so  far  a  complete 
victory  for  American  diplomacy. 

As  the  submarine  disappeared  from  the  old  war  zone 
declared  by  Germany,  it  reappeared  in  the  IMediterranean 
Sea  where  the  Ancona-  and  the  Persia  were  sunk.  In 
both  cases  American  lives  were  lost.  This  time  Austria 
was  apparently  the  violator,  and  again  diplomacy  won. 
Germany  even  came  forward,  not  in  response  to  a  direct 
demand,  but  in  recognition  of  the  legal  soundness  of 
the  President's  position,  and  declared  that  the  general 
principles  of  international  law  will  be  strictly  observed 
for  the  future  and  if  German  commanders  "should  not 
have  obeyed  the  orders  given  them,  they  will  be  pun- 
nished,"  and  reparation  will  be  made  if  American  lives 
are  lost.  Moreover,  the  Administration  secured  from 
Austria  the  promise  that  even  ''hostile  private  ships  in 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  327 

SO  far  as  they  do  not  flee  or  offer  resistance,  may  not  be 
destroyed  without  the  persons  on  board  having  been 
placed  in  safety,"  and  it  was  gratifying  to  learn  that, 
*'The  triumph  of  President  Wilson's  peaceful,  patient, 
reasonable  diplomacy  seems  to  be  near  at  hand. 

This  victory  for  neutrals  was  achieved  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  during  the  greatest  war  in 
historv,  without  bloodshed,  save  of  the  unfortunate  vie- 
tims  whose  untimely  and  very  tragic  deaths  restored  the 
rights  of  humanity  when  all  international  morality 
seemed  to  be  lost.  And  many  millions  of  American  citi- 
zens rejoiced  and  thanked  God  that  this  nation  was 
following  an  ideal  rather  than  the  grim  visaged  monster 
whom  the  blood  of  millions  could  not  satisfy. 

The  public  temper  is  made  by  the  act  of  the  moment, 
and  the  public  mind  seems  to  remember  only  similar  acts 
of  the  past.  If  the  situation  is  good  now,  it  has  always 
been  favorable ;  but  if  it  is  bad,  times  are  rapidly  grow- 
ing worse.  Therefore,  the  attitude  of  the  public  mind 
toward  the  President  alternated  between  utter  distrust 
and  a  heart  full  of  gratitude.  However,  there  were  those 
who  so  hoped  for  war,  that  even  a  diplomatic  victory 
brought  such  discontent  and  ravings  and  ridicule  that 
the  New  York  Sun  was  led  to  ask  if  American  news- 
papers really  want  war. 

"Is  it  possible,"  the  Sun  asks,  ''that  there  is  any 
American  newspaper  or  any  American  citizen  in  public 
or  private  life,  now  really  hoping  at  the  bottom  of  his 


328  WOODKOW  WILSON  AS  PEESIDEXT 

heart  that  the  controversy  with  the  Central  Powers  about 
American  rights  of  trade  on  the  high  seas  may  reach  a 
pass  which  shall  make  war  inevitable? 

"It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  such  should  be  the 
case ;  yet  every  time  that  a  distinct  gain  is  made  by  our 
State  Department  in  its  progress  toward  a  satisfactory 
and  honorable  settlement  of  the  whole  business  there 
are  expressions  here  and  there  which  give  color  to  the 
idea  that  the  gain  has  caused  disappointment  rather 
than  joy. 

' '  During  the  past  sixty  hours  or  so  the  progress  toward 
a  complete  agreement  as  to  the  validity  of  all  the 
American  contentions  has  been  notable.  There  is  no 
evidence  yet  in  hand  enabling  our  Government  to 
identify  the  assailant  of  the  Persia;  but  practically 
every  principle  of  civilized  international  law  on  which 
our  demands  are  based  has  been  admitted  and  accepted 
by  Berlin,  except  only  as  to  'reprisals'  in  the  so-called 
war  zone  of  neutral  waters." 

On  May  13,  1915,  President  Wilson  undertook  the 
most  difficult  task  of  his  administration.  In  fact,  the 
task  was  declared  impossible,  because  the  submarine 
was  a  new  engine  of  warfare,  and  was  not  safeguarded 
by  any  existing  rules.  Many  peace-loving  citizens  were 
willing  to  throw  over  international  law,  warn  all  Amer- 
ican citizens  and  American  vessels  to  avoid  war  areas, 
and  stand  absolutely  aside.  The  President,  however, 
refused  to  follow  such  advice.     He  very  firmly  insisted 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  329 

on  the  rights  of  humanity  regardless  of  new  inventions 
or  old  international  rnles,  and  humanity  has  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  to  thank  for  exalting  the  law 
of  right  and  justice  above  the  brutal  and  primitive  rule 
of  might  to  kill  innocent  women  and  children.  The  New 
Bepuhlic  declared  that  "through  the  agency  of  Mr.  Wil- 
son's much  ridiculed  notes,  the  law  of  visit  and  search 
has  been  rewritten  on  the  wall  for  all  the  world  to  read 
and  to  obey.  The  submarine  commanders  must  show 
that  instead  of  trying  to  kill  non-combatants,  they  are 
trying  to  avoid  the  killing. ' '  And  this  was  accomplished 
without  threat  or  bluster,  but  by  keeping  constantly  be- 
fore the  world  the  one  principle  that  right  and  justice 
are  more  lasting  than  brute  force. 

In  referring  to  his  efforts  to  maintain  peace  in  Amer- 
ica, Mr.  Wilson,  in  an  address  at  St.  Louis,  February  3, 
1916,  justified  his  policies  and  exalted  American 
diplomacy  in  these  words: 

*^We  respect  other  nations,  and  absolutely 
respect  their  rights  so  long  as  they  respect  our 
rights.  We  do  not  claim  anything  for  ourselves 
which  they  would  not,  under  like  circumstances, 
claim  for  themselves.  Every  statement  of  right 
that  we  have  made  is  grounded  upon  the  utter- 
ances of  their  own  public  men  and  their  own 
judges.     There  is  no  dispute  about  the  rights  of 


330  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

nations  under  the  understandings  of  international 
law. 

*^  America  has  drawn  no  fine  point.  America 
has  raised  no  novel  issue.  America  has  merely 
asserted  the  rights  of  her  citizens  and  her  govern- 
ment, upon  what  is  written  plain  on  all  the  docu- 
ments of  international  intercourse.  Therefore, 
America  is  not  selfish  in  claiming  her  rights.  She 
is  merely  standing  for  the  rights  of  mankind 
when  the  life  of  mankind  is  being  disturbed  by 
an  unprecedented  war  between  the  greatest 
nations  of  the  world. 

^^Some  of  these  days  we  shall  be  able  to  call 
the  statesmen  of  the  older  nations  to  witness  that 
it  was  we  who  kept  the  quiet  flame  of  inter- 
national principle  burning  upon  its  altar  while 
the  winds  of  passion  were  sweeping  away  every 
altar  in  the  world.  Some  of  these  days  they  w^ill 
look  back  with  gratification  upon  the  steadfast 
allegiance  of  the  United  States  to  those  principles 
of  action  which  every  man  loves  when  his  temper 
is  not  upset  and  his  judgment  is  not  disturbed.'' 

During  the  last  half  of  the  year  1915  the  British 
Admiralty  developed  considerable  skill  in  destroying  the 
German  submarine  boats.     What  part  the  armed  mer- 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  331 

chantmen  played  in  this  warfare  is  not  known.  How- 
ever, the  one  obstacle  left  in  the  way  of  a  complete 
agreement  among  the  nations  as  to  the  rules  governing 
submarine  warfare,  was  this:  Should  a  merchantman 
engaged  in  legitimate  peaceful  trade  be  armed?  Ger- 
many contended  that  a  merchantman's  guns  are  now 
intended  only  for  submarines.  The  latter  are  frail  con- 
structions and  a  single  shot  may  render  them  helpless. 
''Yet  they  are  expected  to  observe  the  rules  of  visit  and 
search  precisely  as  would  a  powerful  cruiser."  And 
the  American  Government  was  inclined  to  take  the  view 
that  merchantmen  should  not  be  armed,  although  inter- 
national law  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  held  to  the 
contrary. 

The  allies,  however,  insisted  on  the  rights  accorded 
by  international  law.  It  was  pointed  out  that  the 
British  Admiralty  in  its  order  of  October,  1915,  had  de- 
clared that  * '  armament  is  supplied  solely  for  the  purpose 
of  resisting  attack  by  an  armed  enemy  vessel  and  must 
not  be  used  for  any  other  purpose  whatever."  It  was 
declared,  furthermore,  that  hostile  submarines  and  air- 
crafts  have  frequently  attacked  merchant  vessels  with- 
out warning.  But  that  "British  and  allied  submarines 
and  air  crafts  have  orders  not  to  approach  merchant 
vessels.  Consequently,  it  may  be  presumed  that  any 
submarine  or  air  craft  which  deliberately  approaches 
or  pursues  a  merchant  vessel  does  so  with  hostile  intent. 
In  such  cases  fire  may  be  opened  in  self-defense  in  order 


332  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

to  prevent  the  hostile  craft  from  closing  to  a  range  at 
which  resistance  to  a  sudden  attack  with  bombs  or  tor- 
pedoes would  be  impossible." 

This  was  the  recognized  rule  adopted  by  the  allies  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war.  And  readers  will  remember 
that  one  of  the  points  of  controversy  at  the  time  of 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  had  to  do  with  the  question 
whether  or  not  she  carried  guns  with  which  to  defend 
herself  against  submarines.  However,  on  January  18, 
1916,  the  State  Department  sought  to  remove  this  main 
difficulty  between  the  allies  and  the  central  powers. 
It  asked  the  nations  to  consider  a  modification  of 
this  rule,  since  Germany  had  agreed  to  abandon  her 
warfare  against  neutral  vessels  and  to  protect  neutral 
citizens  traveling  on  merchantmen  of  belligerent  nations. 
The  modification  asked  for  was  that  belligerent  nations 
''should  be  prohibited  from  carrying  any  armament 
whatever. ' '  Because  ' '  the  placing  of  guns  on  merchant- 
men at  the  present  date  of  submarine  warfare  can  be 
explained  only  on  the  grounds  of  a  purpose  to  render 
merchantmen  superior  in  force  to  submarines.'*  And 
the  appeal  to  the  nations  was  concluded  with  these 
words : 


i  i 


My  government  is  impressed  with  the  reason- 
ableness of  the  argument  that  a  merchant  vessel 
carrying  an  armament  of  any  sort,  in  view  of 
the  character  of  submarine  warfare  and  the  de- 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  333 

fensive  weakness  of  undersea  craft,  sliould  be 
held  to  be  an  auxiliary  cruiser,  and  be  so  treated 
by  a  neutral  as  well  as  by  a  belligerent  govern- 
ment, and  is  seriously  considering  instructing  its 
officials  accordingly. ' ' 

This  was  asking  the  British  Admiralty  to  abandon  its 
former  rule.  But  the  whole  question  of  armed  merchant- 
men was  already  as  vexing  as  it  well  could  be.  The 
Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Lansing,  was  earnestly  seeking 
to  relieve  this  tension  and  strain  for  neutrals  as  well  as 
for  belligerents.  He  argued  that  the  conditions  of 
maritime  warfare  have  changed  since  the  days  of  pirates 
and  sea  rovers  when  it  was  necessary  to  arm  merchant- 
men. 

England,  however,  was  unyielding,  although  the 
neutral  nations  of  Europe  and  even  France  and  Italy  at 
one  time  showed  a  disposition  to  accept  the  American 
viewpoint.  She  defended  her  position  on  the  ground  that 
the  appearance  of  the  submarine  boat  and  the  submarine 
warfare  practiced  by  Germany  made  it  as  necessary  now 
for  England  to  arm  her  merchantmen  as  in  the  days  of 
pirates  and  sea  rovers.  What  assurance,  it  was  asked,  did 
any  nation  have  that  Germany  would  not  soon  revive  her 
attacks  on  neutral  merchantmen  as  well  as  merchantmen 
of  belligerent  nations"?  The  only  defense  any  vessel 
had  against  reckless  captains  was  to  carry  sufficient 
armament  "to  prevent  the  hostile  craft  from  closing  to 


334  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

a  range  at  which  resistance  to  a  sudden  attack  with 
bomb  or  torpedo  would  be  impossible."  The  best 
students  of  the  subject  in  all  its  phases,  it  is  said,  ad- 
mitted that  there  were  no  rules  or  traditions  of  inter- 
national law  that  met  the  conditions  actually  existing 
on  the  sea  at  that  time. 

In  the  midst  of  these  negotiations  and  without  waiting 
to  see  if  our  Government  could  not  obtain  from  England 
and  her  allies  the  admission  that  the  German  view  was 
reasonable  and  fair,  Germany  took  a  step  that  made 
further  efforts  to  settle  this  perplexing  question  futile. 
In  February,  the  German  Government  notified  the  world 
that,  after  March  1,  it  would  regard  merchant  ships 
carrying  guns  as  of  the  character  of  auxiliary  cruisers, 
and  that  the  submarine  war  would  be  directed  against 
them  as  against  any  war  vessel;  that  is,  they  were  not 
to  be  warned  before  attack,  and  all  passengers  traveling 
on  armed  merchantmen  would  do  so  at  their  own  peril. 

Obviously,  from  the  standpoint  of  submarine  warfare, 
the  armed  merchantman  is  a  warship.  At  the  same  time 
self-preservation  demanded  that  merchantmen  should  be 
armed.  But  a  new  rule  was  now  impossible.  Certainly 
America  was  not  empowered  to  make  a  new  international 
rule  without  the  agreement  of  all  the  belligerent  nations. 

However,  Congress  showed  a  strong  disposition  to 
accept  the  view  that  the  armed  merchantman  was  an 
auxiliary  cruiser  and  a  resolution  was  introduced 
in  each  House  to  warn  all  Americans  to  avoid  passage 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  335 

on  such  vessels.  The  President  naturally  opposed  very 
vigorously  this  proposed  act,  and  for  the  time  being  the 
Administration  and  Congress  "locked  horns  with  one 
another  with  such  intensity  of  emotion  as  is  not  wit- 
nessed at  Washington  more  than  once  or  twice  in  a 
lifetime." 

Congress  was  afraid  of  war.  Not  since  the  sinking  of 
the  Lusitania  did  Congress  have  such  a  panicky  feeling. 
Senators  and  Members  of  the  House  held  repeated  con- 
ferences with  the  President.  Senator  Stone,  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  Foreign  Kelations,  after  a  long  inter- 
view with  him  and  after  ''numerous  Members  of  the 
Senate  and  House  had  called  to  discuss  this  sub- 
ject with  me,"  wrote  the  President  (Feb.  24)  reviewing 
their  former  conference,  and  declaring  that  ''I  am  more 
troubled  than  I  have  been  for  many  a  day."  He  as- 
sured the  President,  however,  that  he  was  "striving  to 
prevent  anything  being  done  by  any  Senator  or  Member 
calculated  to  embarrass  your  diplomatic  negotiations." 

But,  he  added,  "I  find  it  difficult  from  my  sense  of 
duty  and  responsibility  to  consent  to  plunge  this  nation 
into  the  vortex  of  this  world  war  because  of  the  unrea- 
sonable obstinacy  of  any  of  the  powers." 

In  reply  to  this  letter,  President  Wilson  assured 
Senator  Stone  that  he  was  doing  everything  in  his  power 
to  keep  the  United  States  out  of  war  and  he  spoke  con- 
fidently that  he  would  continue  to  succeed.  But  he 
added : 


336  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

^^Tlie  course  which  the  Central  European 
Powers  have  announced  their  intention  of  follow- 
ing in  the  future  with  regard  to  undersea  warfare 
seems  for  the  moment  to  threaten  insuperable 
obstacles,  but  its  apparent  meaning  is  so  mani- 
festly inconsistent  with  explicit  assurances  re- 
cently given  out  by  those  powers  with  regard  to 
their  treatment  of  merchant  vessels  on  the  high 
seas  that  I  must  believe  that  explanations  will 
presently  ensue  which  wall  put  a  different  aspect 
upon  it.  We  have  had  no  reason  to  question  their 
good  faith  or  their  fidelity  to  their  promises  in 
the  past,  and  I  for  one  feel  confident  that  we  shall 
have  none  in  the  future." 

Then  in  regard  to  the  right  of  this  nation  to  establish 
a  new  international  rule,  he  said : 

^^No  nation,  no  group  of  nations,  has  the  right, 
while  war  is  in  progress,  to  alter  or  disregard  the 
principles  which  all  nations  have  agreed  upon 
in  mitigation  of  the  horrors  and  sufferings  of 
war;  and  if  the  clear  rights  of  American  citizens 
should  ever  unhappily  be  abridged  or  denied  by 
any  such  action  we  should,  it  seems  to  me,  have 
in  honor  no  choice  as  to  what  our  own  course 
should  be." 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  337 

He  was  most  emphatic  in  his  assertion  that  the  rights 
of  American  citizens  should  not  be  abridged  in  any 
respect,  and  he  explained: 

^'To  forbid  our  people  to  exercise  their  rights 
for  fear  we  might  be  called  upon  to  vindicate 
them  would  be  a  deep  humiliation  indeed.  It 
would  be  an  implicit,  all  but  explicit,  acquiescence 
in  the  violation  of  the  rights  of  mankind  every- 
where, and  of  whatever  nation  or  allegiance.  It 
would  be  a  deliberate  abdication  of  our  hitherto 
proud  position  as  spokesmen,  even  amidst  the 
turmoil  of  war,  for  the  law  and  the  right.  It 
would  make  everything  this  Government  has 
attempted,  and  everything  that  it  has  achieved 
during  this  terrible  struggle  of  nations  meaning- 
less and  futile. 

^'It  is  important  to  reflect  that  if,  in  this  in- 
stance, we  allowed  expediency  to  take  the  place 
of  principle,  the  door  would  inevitably  be  opened 
to  still  further  concessions.  Once  accept  a 
single  abatement  of  right,  and  many  other  humili- 
ations would  certainly  follow,  and  the  whole  tine 
fabric  of  international  law  might  crumble  under 
our  hands  piece  by  piece.  What  we  are  contend- 
ing for  in  this  matter  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
the  things  that  have  made  America  a  sovereign 


338  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

nation.  She  cannot  yield  them  without  conceding 
her  own  impotency  as  a  nation,  and  making 
virtual  surrender  of  her  independent  position 
among  the  nations  of  the  world." 

The  President's  letter  left  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of 
the  Senators  and  the  Members  what  his  course  would 
be.  Moreover,  it  was  in  the  nature  of  an  ultimatum  to 
Germany  and  Austria  that  those  nations  must  not  carry 
out  their  armed  merchantmen  order  at  the  expense  of 
the  lives  of  American  citizens. 

When  this  letter  was  written,  Congress  was  threaten- 
ing to  pass  resolutions  to  instruct  the  President  to  warn 
American  citizens  to  avoid  sailing  on  armed  merchant- 
men in  spite  of  his  protest  that  he  should  not  be 
hampered  in  his  diplomatic  correspondence  by  such 
conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Senators  and  Members. 

The  situation  was  indeed  very  grave.  And  the  Presi- 
dent's firm  stand  struck  terror  to  the  souls  of  Senators 
and  ]\Iembers  who  already  saw  grim-visaged  war  ap- 
proaching. All  day  long  the  situation  was  discussed. 
But  after  the  night  and  some  needed  rest  a  calm  settled 
over  Congress  and  the  resolutions  were  side-tracked  by 
the  leaders. 

Three  days  later,  February  27,  Mr.  Wilson  was  the 
guest  of  the  Gridiron  Club  of  Washington.  The  nation 
was  still  discussing  the  possibilities  of  war  and  Congress 
was  slowly  recovering  from  its  fright.    But  on  this  occa- 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  339 

sion  he  again  assured  the  nation  that  his  one  prayer  was 
to  keep  this  nation  out  of  war. 

^^ America  ought  to  keep  out  of  this  war,"  he 
said.  *'She  ought  to  keep  out  of  this  war  at  the 
sacrifice  of  everything  except  the  one  thing  upon 
which  her  character  and  history  are  founded,  her 
sense  of  humanity  and  justice.  If  she  sacrifices 
that,  she  has  ceased  to  be  America ;  she  has  ceased 
to  entertain  and  to  love  the  traditions  which  have 
made  us  proud  to  be  Americans;  and  when  we 
go  about  seeking  safety  at  the  expense  of  human- 
ity, then  I  for  one  will  believe  that  I  have  always 
been  mistaken  in  what  I  have  conceived  to  be  the 
spirit  of  American  history.'' 

Thus  the  matter  stood  for  awhile.  The  President 
refused  to  hold  further  conference  with  the  leaders,  and 
the  resolutions  were  about  to  die  in  the  committee  rooms. 
Then  it  became  an  open  secret  that  the  President  had 
been  embarrassed  by  the  ''rebellion"  in  Congress.  The 
Central  Powers  were  resting  their  case  on  the  assumption 
that  the  American  nation  was  not  supporting  him,  and 
March  1  was  almost  at  hand  when  Germany's  new  order 
was  to  be  enforced.  There  was  a  feeling  of  anxiety 
pervading  the  Capitol,  when  suddenly,  on  February  29, 
Mr.  Wilson  startled  not  only  Congress,  but  the  entire 


340  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

nation  by  demanding  that  the  Senators  and  Members  go 
on  record  and  thus  show  the  combatants  how  this  nation 
stood  and  whether  the  peoples'  representatives  were 
behind  the  President  or  not. 

This  was,  perhaps,  Mr.  Wilson 's  boldest  act  during  the 
entire  war.  He  was  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  he  would  convince  the  Central  Powers  on  the  eve  of 
renewing  their  submarine  warfare  that  the  entire  United 
States  was  backing  its  President. 

Therefore,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Edward  Pou,  the  ranking 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  "to  urge  an  early  vote"  upon  the 
resolutions. 

''The  report,"  he  said,  ''that  there  are  divided 
counsels  in  Congress  in  regard  to  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  Government  is  being  made  use  of 
in  foreign  capitals.  I  believe  that  report  to  be 
false,  but  so  long  as  it  is  any^vhere  credited  it 
cannot  fail  to  do  the  greatest  harm  and  expose 
the  country  to  the  most  serious  risks." 

He  was  now  asking  for  an  action  that  he  had 
opposed  heretofore  in  order  "that  all  doubts 
and  conjectures  may  be  swept  away  and  our  for- 
eign relations  once  more  cleared  of  damaging 
misunderstandings. ' ' 


HOLDING  TO  xV  STANDARD  341 

He  concluded  liis  letter  by  saying  that  ^'tlie 
matter  is  of  so  grave  importance  and  lies  so 
clearly  within  the  field  of  executive  initiative 
that  I  venture  to  hope  that  your  committee  will 
not  think  that  I  am  taking  unwarranted  liberty 
in  making  this  suggestion  as  to  the  business  of  the 
House,  and  I  very  earnestly  commend  it  to  their 
immediate  consideration. ' ' 

The  Senate  was  in  confusion,  and  the  House  was  a 
hot  bed  of  excitement.  On  the  day  following,  while  the 
two  bodies  were  debating  whether  they  would  give  the 
President  a  vote  of  confidence  and  drop  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  armed  merchantmen,  Mr.  AVilson  served  notice 
that  he  would  consent  to  nothing  less  than  a  record  vote 
on  the  resolutions  before  he  went  on  with  the  German 
submarine  negotiations.  And  this  was  on  March  1,  the 
date  for  the  beginning  of  execution  of  the  new  sub- 
marine order  by  Germany  and  Austria. 

And  Congress  decided  on  March  2  to  face  the  clear  cut 
issue,  while  the  President,  pale  and  somewhat  careworn 
from  the  long  controversy,  waited  with  grim  resolution 
for  Congress  to  line  up  behind  him. 

His  courage  and  wisdom  soon  had  their  reward. 
Within  five  days  after  Congress  decided  to  face  the 
issue,  both  the  Senate  and  the  House  tabled  the  resolu- 


342  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

tions  by  overwhelming  majorities — the  Senate  64  to  14 
and  the  House  276  to  142.  President  Wilson  dared 
Congress  to  set  limits  to  the  exercise  of  his  constitu- 
tional powers,  and  it  capitulated,  and  he  was  again  in- 
trusted fully  with  the  authority  to  protect  the  rights 
of  Americans  and  the  honor  of  this  nation.  The  neutral 
nations  might  still  rely  upon  him  to  hold  the  warring 
powers  to  some  ethical  standard. 

It  was  just  at  this  time,  March  9,  that  Villa's  bandits 
made  a  raid  on  the  American  town  of  Columbus,  and 
the  policy  of  "watchful  waiting"  in  Mexico  was  at  an 
end.    Those  were  busy  days  for  the  President. 

Meanwhile,  the  submarine  question  remained  just 
where  it  was  when  Secretary  Lansing  sent  his  note  to 
the  combatants.  The  President  had  adopted  a  policy  of 
"watchful  waiting"  toward  the  Central  Powers,  but 
with  the  outstanding  warning  that  the  rights  of  neutrals 
and  non-combatants  must  be  respected.  However, 
within  a  few  days  the  submarine  warfare  was  renewed. 

On  March  24  the  British  passenger  steamer  Sussex, 
engaged  in  cross  channel  traffic  and  carrying  many 
American  passengers,  was  torpedoed  and  fifty  passen- 
gers were  killed. 

On  the  same  date  the  American  State  Department 
received  the  refusal  of  the  Allies  to  accept  the  proposal 
of  Mr.  Lansing,  submitted  on  January  18,  designed  to 
regulate  the  operations  of  submarines  against  merchant 
ships  and  to  prevent  the  arming  of  merchant  ships. 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  343 

On  the  following  day  news  was  received  in  America 
that  the  Englishman,  a  freighter  bound  for  Portland, 
Maine,  was  torpedoed  near  the  English  Coast.  And  on 
March  30,  the  Portugal,  a  Franco-Russian  hospital  ship, 
was  sunk  by  a  Turkish  submarine  in  the  Black  Sea  and 
nearly  100  physicians,  nurses,  and  members  of  the  crew 
were  lost. 

The  last  week  in  March,  therefore,  brought  a  revival 
of  cruelties  and  barbarities,  which,  this  nation  was  re- 
peatedly assured,  would  not  be  resumed.  At  first  the 
German  Government  denied  the  Sussex  was  sunk  by 
German  submarines.  And  then  an  investigation  fol- 
lowed, which  proved  that  the  ill-fated  channel  steamer, 
like  many  other  passenger  vessels,  was  the  victim  of  the 
German  submarine. 

Without  further  words,  President  Wilson  appeared 
before  Congress,  April  19,  and  declared  very  solemnly 
that  "a  situation  has  arisen  in  the  foreign  relations  of 
this  country  of  which  it  is  my  plain  duty  to  inform  you 
very  frankly." 

He  then  reviewed  the  controversy  between  this  coun- 
try and  the  central  powers  from  the  beginning  of  the 
submarine  war  to  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex. 

He  declared  this  last  act  ^^must  stand  forth, 
as  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  did,  as  so  singu- 
larly tragical  and  unjustifiable  as  to  constitute  a 
truly  terrible  example  of  the  inhumanity  of  sub- 


344  WOODROW  ^YILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

marine  warfare  as  the  cormnanders  of  German 
vessels  have  for  the  past  twelve  months  been 
conducting  it.  If  this  instance  stood  alone,  some 
explanation,  some  disavowal  by  the  German  Gov- 
ernment, some  evidence  of  criminal  mistake  or 
willful  disobedience  on  the  part  of  the  commander 
of  the  vessel  that  fired  the  torpedo  might  be 
sought  for  or  entertained;  but  unhappily  it  does 
not  stand  alone.  Eecent  events  make  the  conclu- 
sion inevitable  that  it  is  only  one  of  the  most 
extreme  and  distressing  instances  of  the  spirit 
and  method  of  warfare  which  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  has  mistakenly  adopted,  and 
which  from  the  first  exposed  that  government  to 
the  reproach  of  thrusting  all  human  rights  aside 
in  pursuit  of  its  immediate  objects." 

He  spoke  with  feeling  when  he  told  how  patient 
the  Administration  had  been,  how  it  had  accepted 
*^the  successive  explanations  and  assurances  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government  as  given  in 
entire  sincerity  and  good  faith,"  and  how  it  had 
been  willing  *'to  wait  until  the  significance  of 
the  facts  became  absolutely  unmistakable  and 
susceptible  of  but  one  interpretation." 

Moreover,  he  declared,  ^^The  Imperial  German 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  345 

Government  has  been  unable  to  put  any  limit  or 
restraints  upon  its  warfare  against  either  freight 
or  passenger  ships.  It  has,  therefore,  become 
painfully  evident  that  the  position  which  this 
government  took  at  the  very  outset  is  inevitable, 
namely,  that  the  use  of  submarines  for  the  de- 
struction of  an  enemy's  commerce  is  of  necessity, 
because  of  the  very  character  of  the  vessels  em- 
ployed and  the  very  method  of  attack  which 
their  employment  of  course  involves,  incompatible 
with  the  principles  of  humanity,  the  long  estab- 
lished and  incontrovertible  rights  of  neutrals, 
and  the  sacred  immunities  of  non-combatants.'' 

Mr.  Wilson  then  measured  his  words  very 
carefully  as  he  told  the  nations'  representatives 
that  he  felt  .it  his  duty  ' '  to  say  to  the  Imperial 
Government  that  if  it  is  still  its  purpose  to 
prosecute  unwarranted  and  indiscriminate  war- 
fare against  vessels  of  commerce  by  the  use  of  sub- 
marines" the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  but  one  course  it  can  pursue.  It  can  have 
' '  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with 
the  Government  of  the  German  Empire." 

''This    decision   I   have    arrived   at,   with   the 
keenest  regret,"   he   said  in  conclusion.     ''The 


346  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

possibility  of  the  action  contemplated  I  am  sure 
all  thoughtful  Americans  will  look  forward  to 
with  unaffected  reluctance.  But  we  cannot  for- 
get that  we  are  in  some  sort  and  by  the  force 
of  circumstances,  the  responsible  spokesman  of 
the  rights  of  humanity,  and  that  we  cannot  remain 
silent  while  those  rights  seem  in  process  of  being 
swept  utterly  away  in  the  maelstrom  of  this 
terrible  war.  We  owe  it  to  a  due  regard  for  our 
owTi  rights  as  a  nation,  to  our  sense  of  duty  as  a 
representative  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  the  world 
over,  and  to  a  just  conception  of  the  rights  of 
mankind  to  take  this  stand  now  with  the  utmost 
solemnity  and  firmness. 

*^I  have  taken  it,  and  taken  it  in  the  confidence 
that  it  will  meet  with  your  approval  and  support. 
All  sober-minded  men  must  unite  in  hoping  that 
the  Imperial  German  Government,  which  has  in 
other  circumstances  stood  as  the  champion  of  all 
that  we  are  now  contending  for  in  the  interests 
of  humanity,  may  recognize  the  justice  of  our 
demands  and  meet  them  in  the  spirit  in  which 
they  are  made.'' 

Congress  was  asked  for  no  official  advice  or  authority. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  was  simply  exercis- 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  347 

ing  his  constitutional  prerogative  to  inform  the  Legis- 
lative body  of  the  state  of  the  Union  and  a  step  the 
executive  had  already  taken,  since  his  address  to  Congress 
was  a  part  of  a  note  that  he  had  already  sent  to  Germany. 
Several  davs  before  this  address  was  delivered  he  held 

ft' 

conferences  with  leaders  of  both  Houses  and  of  the  two 
leading  parties.  And  he  was  already  confident  that 
Congress  was  supporting  him.  Moreover,  he  knew  that 
he  was  being  supported  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  American  citizens,  who  had  been  waiting  patiently 
for  him  to  take  the  very  step  that  he  had  been  seemingly 
reluctant  to  take. 

The  country  was  now  prepared  to  stand  behind  the 
President.  The  pacifists,  who  were  so  frightened  when 
the  Lusitania  was  sunk,  had  regained  their  courage  and, 
although  for  peace,  were  supporting  him.  The  ardent 
militarists  who  could  see  no  reason  for  the  President's 
waiting  so  long  to  take  this  vigorous  step  were,  of  course, 
ready  to  back  up  the  Administration.  And  with  a  nation 
solidly  believing  in  him,  Germany  reluctantly  abandoned 
the  position  that  had  given  rise  to  this  new  trouble.  The 
note  dated  May  4  and  published  in  the  newspapers  the 
following  morning  announced  a  change  in  the  German 
submarine  policy. 

It  stated  that  the  Imperial  Government  ''is  prepared 
to  do  its  utmost  to  confine  the  operations  of  the  war  for 
the  rest  of  its  duration  to  the  fighting  forces  of  the 
belligerents."     Moreover,  it  expressed  a  determination 


348  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

to  impose  upon  all  its  commanders  at  sea  the  limitations 
of  the  recognized  rales  of  international  law  upon  which 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  insisted.  It 
explained  also  that  German  naval  forces  had  received  the 
following  order: 

*'In  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  visit 
and  search  and  the  destruction  of  merchant  vessels, 
recognized  by  international  law,  such  vessels,  both  within 
and  without  the  area  declared  a  naval  war  zone,  shall 
not  be  sunk  without  warning  and  without  saving  human 
lives  unless  the  ship  attempts  to  escape  or  offer  re- 
sistance. ' ' 

The  German  Foreign  Secretary  admitted  that  at  this 
stage  of  the  war,  after  twenty-one  months  of  fighting, 
the  German  people  could  not  think  of  ''seriously  threat- 
ening the  maintenance  of  peace  between  the  two 
nations."  On  May  8,  Secretary  Lansing  replied  with  a 
brief  note  ' '  accepting  the  Imperial  Government 's  declara- 
tion of  its  abandonment  of  the  policy  which  has  so 
seriously  menaced  the  good  relations  between  the  two 
countries."  And  the  final  word  in  the  controversy  was 
that  ''the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  rely 
upon  a  scrupulous  execution  henceforth  of  the  new 
altered  policy  of  the  Imperial  Government." 

Thus  ended  the  long  controversy  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government.  Perhaps 
no  neutral  nation  has  in  times  of  war  accomplished  so 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  3^^ 

much  for  the  non-combatants.  The  great  aggressor  in 
the  war  was  forced  by  peaceful  means  to  recognize  an 
ethical  law  that  reigns  above  the  mad  brutality  of  reck- 
less belligerents.  To  be  sure  it  took  time.  The  reforms 
of  peace  come  more  slowly  than  changes  through  revolu- 
tion.   But  they  are  more  permanent. 

England  soon  followed  Germany  in  bowing  to  inter- 
national law.  This  nation  had  made  one  protest  after 
another  against  England's  violation  of  neutral  rights 
in  the  seas.  Our  mails  were  seized,  business  was  inter- 
fered with,  vessels  were  confiscated,  and  American 
citizens  were  detained. 

England  was  next  to  omnipotent  on  the  seas.    But  the 
President  challenged  the  British  blockade  as  fearlessly 
and  as  skilfully  as  he  did  Germany's  submarine  warfare. 
The  British  Government,  however,  was  relying  upon  the 
Declaration  of  London  and  British  Orders  in  Council 
which  was  never  signed  and  which  bound  nobody.    But 
this   Administration   held   that   international   law,    not 
British  Orders  in  Council,  should  be  the  final  authority. 
Soon  after  Germany  agreed  to  abandon  her  submarine 
warfare  against  neutrals  and  non-combatants,  the  Eng- 
lish prize  courts  decided  that  British  Orders  in  Council 
*'in  derogation  of  neutral  rights  were  invalid  unless  con- 
formable  with  international  law,"  and  the  English  Gov- 
ernment declared  that  Orders  in  Council  henceforth  will 
be  made  to  conform  to  the  law  which  they  had  assumed 


350  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

to  ignore,  and  that  all  Orders  in  Council  would  be  recon- 
sidered, and  new  orders  would  be  issued  in  conformity 
with  international  law. 

England's  regard  for  this  higher  law,  this  law  of 
nations,  was  expressed  just  before  Germany  inaugurated 
her  new  submarine  policy.  Admiral  Beresford  was  ad- 
vocating that  all  goods  entering  Germany  should  be 
considered  contraband,  and  he  remarked  that  if  this  step 
had  been  taken  at  the  beginning  of  the  conflict,  war 
would  now  be  over.  Sir  Edward  Grey  is  reported  to 
have  replied  with  the  following  very  significant  remark, 
''If  we  had  gone  as  far  as  that,  the  war  might  possibly 
have  been  over  by  now,  but  it  would  have  been  over 
because  the  whole  world  would  have  been  against  us,  and 
we  and  our  allies,  too,  would  have  collapsed  under  the 
general  resentment  of  the  whole  world." 

The  viewpoints  of  the  Allies  and  the  Central  Powers 
were  alike  to  this  extent,  it  was  necessary  to  embarrass 
the  enemy  as  much  as  possible  and  both  violated  estab- 
lished principles  of  international  law.  While  England 
seized  neutral  vessels  she  appropriated  only  that  which 
could  be  restored  after  the  war.  Germany  went  a  step 
further  and  sacrificed  the  lives  of  innocent  men,  women, 
and  children.  These  could  not  be  restored  after  the  war. 
Hence,  the  greater  case  was  against  Germany. 

It  was  the  diplomacy  of  President  Wilson  that  ended 
the  murder  of  innocent  non-combatants  and  restored  the 
rights  of  neutrals  to  the  high  seas.     And  the  greatest 


HOLDING  TO  A  STANDARD  351 

praise  is  merited  because  it  was  accomplished  when  half 
of  the  world  was  mad,  without  plunging  this  nation 
into  war.  ' '  America  "has  lifted  high  the  light  which  will 
shine  unto  all  generations  and  guide  the  feet  of  man- 
kind to  the  goal  of  justice  and  liberty  and  peace." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MILITARY   PREPAREDNESS   BECOMES   A 
NATIONAL  PROBLEM 

So  many  new  adjustments  had  to  be  made  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  that  every  home  was  touched  and 
every  heart  was  troubled.  Moreover,  there  was  a  panicky 
feeling  that,  somehow,  the  United  States  might  be  drawn 
into  the  maelstrom.  The  people  of  this  country  were 
for  peace.  They  had  been  taught  for  a  generation  that 
they  had  seen  the  last  of  war,  and  when  the  great  conflict 
came  the  American  public  schools  were  teaching  the 
children  that  war  was  sin.  Therefore,  even  the  very 
thought  of  war  was  exceedingly  disconcerting. 

President  Wilson's  determination  to  keep  this  country 
neutral  and  to  nourish  and  cherish  America  first  had  a 
good  effect,  and  the  people  sincerely  hoped  that  his 
prophecies  were  true  and  that  the  war  ' '  would  not  affect 
the  United  States  unfavorably  in  the  long  run."  How- 
ever, there  was  a  militaristic  party  of  considerable  size 
and  influence  in  the  nation,  and  its  members  took  a 
different  view  of  the  matter.  They  argued  that  Amer- 
ica's safety  and  the  rights  of  neutrals  everywhere  were 
jeopardized  and  they  began  to  clamor  loudly  for  mili- 

352 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  353 

tary  preparedness.  But  Mr.  Wilson's  reply  to  them 
was,  ' '  There  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  from  any  quarter 
our  independence  or  the  integrity  of  our  territory  is 
threatened. ' ' 

Within  a  short  time  after  the  beginning  of  the  war 
two  very  distinct  parties  appeared  in  America:  (1) 
those  who  desired  peace  at  any  price  save  the  loss  of 
honor,  and  they  believed  that  it  could  be  secured  with 
the  right  leadership;  (2)  those  who  believed  that  our 
relations  with  Europe  were  such  that  we  were  certain 
to  be  involved  in  the  war.  Therefore,  this  nation  should 
arise  and  arm  to  the  teeth. 

The  President  believed  with  the  first  party  that  peace 
could  be  maintained  with  honor;  but  since  he  was  the 
leader,  he  felt  that  the  final  test  would  depend  upon 
the  American  people  themselves.  Hence,  "America 
First"  as  the  watchword  of  the  hour,  and  he  exhorted 
the  people  not  to  add  in  any  way  to  the  excitement  in 
the  world. 

The  adherents  to  the  other  party,  however,  were  not 
so  easily  convinced.  They  saw  with  growing  alarm  the 
new  modes  of  warfare  employed  in  the  European  conflict. 
They  saw  that  old  methods  were  becoming  obsolete,  and 
that  new  engines  and  new  machinery  were  revolutionizing 
warfare.  They  then  began  to  make  hurried  investiga- 
tions into  the  nature  of  our  defenses,  and  reported  that 
our  army  was  small ;  our  navy  weak,  and  our  coast  de- 
fenses, inadequate;  and  they  proclaimed  the  news  and 


354  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

their  fears  so  loudly  that  there  appeared,  for  the  time, 
to  be  only  one  voice  in  the  nation,  and  that  one  was  for 
immediate  military  preparedness. 

However,  there  were  many  replies  to  the  extravagant 
assertions  of  the  extreme  advocates  of  preparedness. 
Their  findings  as  to  the  condition  of  our  defenses  were 
vigorously  assailed,  and  their  arguments  that  this  nation 
could  not  avoid  the  European  entanglements  were 
ridiculed. 

Therefore,  on  December  7,  1914,  when  the  short  ses- 
sion of  Congress  convened  after  a  brief  vacation,  one 
of  the  most  perplexing  questions  that  the  President  had 
to  face  and  one,  as  he  said  in  his  message  to  Congress, 
' '  that  goes  deeper  into  the  principles  of  our  national  life 
and  policy,"  was  that  of  strengthening  our  national 
defenses. 

**It  cannot  be  discussed,"  he  continued,  ** with- 
out first  answering  some  very  searching  ques- 
tions. It  is  said  in  some  quarters  that  we  are 
not  prepared  for  war.  What  is  meant  by  being 
prepared?  Is  it  meant  that  we  are  not  ready 
upon  brief  notice  to  put  a  nation  in  the  field, 
a  nation  of  men  trained  to  arms?  Of  course  we 
are  not  ready  to  do  that;  and  we  shall  never  be 
in  time  of  peace  so  long  as  we  retain  our  present 
political  principles  and  institutions.     And  what 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  355 

is  it  that  it  is  suggested  we  sliould  be  prepared 
to  do!  To  defend  ourselves  against  attack?  We 
have  always  found  means  to  do  that,  and  shall 
find  them  whenever  it  is  necessary  without  calling 
our  people  away  from  their  necessary  tasks  to 
render  compulsory  military  service  in  times  of 
peace. '* 

He  then  touched  on  a  subject  that  found  a  ready  re- 
sponse in  the  hearts  of  a  great  majority  of  the  people- 
that  there  was  really  no  need  to  fear  that  America 
would  become  entangled  in  the  war.  And  he  gave  his 
reasons  for  making  this  assurance. 

'*We  are  at  peace  with  all  the  world,"  he  said. 
*'No  one  who  speaks  counsel  based  on  fact  or 
drawn  from  a  just  and  candid  interpretation  of 
realities  can  say  that  there  is  reason  to  fear 
that  from  any  quarter  our  independence  or  the 
integrity  of  our  territory  is  threatened.  Dread 
of  the  power  of  any  other  nation  we  are  incap- 
able of.  We  are  not  jealous  of  rivalry  in  the 
fields  of  commerce  or  of  any  other  peaceful 
achievement.  We  mean  to  live  our  own  lives  as 
we  will;  but  we  mean  also  to  let  live.  We  are, 
indeed,  a  true  friend  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
world,  because  we  threaten  none,  covet  the  pos- 


356  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

sessions  of  none,  desire  the  overthrow  of  none. 
Our  friendship  can  be  accepted  and  is  accepted 
without  reservation,  because  it  is  offered  in  a 
spirit  and  for  a  jDurpose  which  no  one  need  ever 
question  or  suspect.  Therein  lies  our  greatness. 
*^We  are  the  champions  of  peace  and  of  con- 
cord. And  we  should  be  very  jealous  of  this 
distinction  wdiich  we  have  sought  to  earn.  Just 
now  we  should  be  particularly  jealous  of  it, 
because  it  is  our  dearest  present  hope  that  this 
character  and  reputation  may  presently,  in  God's 
providence,  bring  us  an  opportunity  such  as  has 
seldom  been  vouchsafed  any  nation,  the  oppor- 
tunity to  counsel  and  obtain  peace  in  the  world 
and  reconciliation  and  a  healing  settlement  of 
many  a  matter  that  has  cooled  and  interrupted 
the  friendship  of  nations.  This  is  the  time  above 
all  others  when  we  should  wish  and  resolve  to 
keep  our  strength  by  self-possession,  our  influ- 
ence by  preserving  our  ancient  principles  of 
action.'' 

These  utterances  were  in  complete  accord  with  the 
policies  that  he  outlined  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
to  place  America  first  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  to 
live  our  own  lives  as  we  will,  and  to  hold  the  warring 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  357 

nations  to  some  standard  that  would  pass  the  judgment 
of  the  world  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  militaristic  party  had  a  tendency  to  sneer  at  this 
''future  judgment."  It  was  believed  that  a  large  stand- 
ing army  was  the  only  thing  that  would  keep  the  bel- 
ligerents in  awe.  However,  the  President  replied,  "we 
never  have  had,  and  while  we  retain  our  present  prin- 
ciples and  ideals  we  never  shall  have,  a  large  standing 
army.  .  .  .  We  shall  not  turn  America  into  a 
military  camp.  We  will  not  ask  our  young  men  to 
spend  the  best  years  of  their  lives  making  soldiers  of 
themselves. ' ' 

On  the  other  hand  he  recognized  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  take  precaution  "against  the  spread  of  the  con- 
flagration." There  is  always,  even  in  times  of  peace, 
some  danger  from  without  to  a  nation,  and  while  half 
the  world  was  in  a  state  of  war  the  danger  was  increased. 
Therefore,  it  was  necessary,  he  argued,  for  America  to 
examine  its  defenses  very  carefully,  and  to  make  such 
preparation  as  the  experts  deemed  wise  under  the 
circumstances. 

^'We  must  depend  in  every  time  of  national 
peril,"  lie  said,  *4n  the  future  as  in  the  past,  not 
upon  a  standing  army,  nor  yet  upon  a  reserve 
army,  but  upon  a  citizenry  trained  and  accus- 
tomed to  arms.  It  will  be  right  enough,  right 
American    policy,    based    upon    our    accustomed 


358  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

principles  and  practices,  to  provide  a  system  by 
which  every  citizen  who  will  volunteer  for  the 
training  may  be  made  familiar  with  the  use  of 
modern  arms,  the  rudiments  of  drill  and  man- 
euver, and  the  maintenance  and  sanitation  of 
camps.  We  should  encourage  such  training  and 
make  it  a  means  of  discipline  which  our  young 
men  will  learn  to  value.  It  is  right  that  we 
should  provide  it  not  only,  but  that  we  should 
make  it  as  attractive  as  possible,  and  so  induce 
our  young  men  to  undergo  it  at  such  times  as  they 
can  command  a  little  freedom  and  can  seek  the 
physical  development  they  need,  for  mere  health  ^s 
sake,  if  for  nothing  more.  Every  means  by  which 
such  things  can  be  stimulated  is  legitimate,  and 
such  a  method  smacks  of  true  American  ideas.  It 
is  right,  too,  that  the  National  Guard  of  the 
States  should  be  developed  and  strengthened  by 
every  means  which  is  not  inconsistent  with  our 
obligations  to  our  own  people  or  with  the  estab- 
lished policy  of  our  Government.'* 

The  President,  then,  turned  his  attention  to  the 
navy  and  its  needs.  *^A  powerful  navy  we  have 
always  regarded  as  our  natural  means  of  de- 
fense,'' he  said;  **and  it  has  always  been  of 
defense  that  we  have  thought,  never  of  aggres- 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  359 

sion  or  of  conquest.     But  who  shall  tell  us  now 
what  sort  of  navy  to  build!    We  shall  take  leave 
to  be  strong  upon  the  seas,  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past ;  and  there  will  be  no  thought  of  offense 
or  of  provocation  in  that.     Our  ships   are  our 
natural  bulwarks.    When  will  the  experts  tell  us 
what  kind  we  should  construct — and  when  will 
they  be  right  for  ten  years  together,  if  the  rela- 
tive efficiency  of  craft  of  different  kinds  and  uses 
continues  to  change  as  we  have  seen  it  change 
under  our  very  eyes  in  these  last  few  months  T' 
The  nation  was  headed  into  a  strange  sea,  and 
few   indeed   could    say   just   what   this    country 
needed.    ''But,"  said  Mr.  Wilson,  'Sve  shall  not 
alter  our  attitude  toward  it  because  some  amongst 
us    are    nervous    and    excited."      And    then    he 
assured  the  people  of  America  that  w^e  must  agree 
upon  a  permanent  policy  of  defense,  not  a  sudden 
and  temporary  thing  simply  because  the  times  are 
not  normal,  but  upon  a  policy  which  ''will  not  be 
for  an  occasion."     And  then  he  endeavored  to 
assure  both  pacifists  and  militarists  that  '.'we  are 
not  unmindful  of  the  great  responsibility  resting 
upon  us.    We  shall  learn  and  profit  by  the  lesson 
of  every  experience  and  every  new  circumstance ; 
and  what  is  needed  wdll  be  adequately  done." 


360  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

In  a  great  democratic  nation,  all  the  people  set  to 
work  to  solve  its  perplexing  problems.  So  many  minds, 
so  many  opinions;  and  the  greater  the  issue  the  louder 
are  the  popular  debates,  and  the  more  difficult  it  is  to 
reach  a  common  basis  for  unity  of  action.  The  next 
morning  after  the  President  delivered  this  address,  the 
American  people  began  immediately  to  answer  all  the 
questions  that  had  been  referred  to  experts.  Pacifists 
and  militarists,  alike,  were  for  protection,  but  their 
ideas  as  to  the  best  means  were  as  far  apart  as  the  poles. 
i\Iany  looked  upon  our  present  state  of  unpreparedness 
as  a  death  warrant  for  thousands  of  our  citizens  and 
as  a  pretext  for  other  nations  to  offer  insult  after  insult 
to  our  nation.  Even  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame,  was  quoted:  "A  government  is  the 
murderer  of  its  own  citizens,  which  sends  them  to  the 
fields  uninformed  and  untaught,  where  they  are  to  meet 
men  of  the  same  age  and  strength  mechanized  by  educa- 
tion and  disciplined  by  battle."  On  the  other  hand  the 
pacifists  were  divided  into  two  large  camps — one  was 
in  favor  of  a  certain  degree  of  preparedness  and  claimed 
that  we  had  already  reached  nearly  that  degree,  while 
others  looked  upon  preparedness  and  war  as  about  the 
same  thing,  or  read  in  preparedness  all  "the  horrors  of 
war. ' ' 

President  Wilson  had  succeeded  in  carrying  the  issue 
to  the  people,  and  a  great  democratic  body  was  arguing 
technical  questions  with  the  fervor  of  old  theological 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  361 

debaters.  However,  a  group  of  serious  experts  were 
quietly  working  away  at  the  task  and  preparing  to  bring 
before  the  64th  Congress  a  concrete  plan  for  the  strength- 
ening of  our  national  defenses. 

The  President  might  argue  that  national  defense  was 
only  for  safety,  that  "we  are  the  champions  of  peace 
and  of  concord, ' '  and  that  our  opportunity  had  come  * '  to 
counsel  and  obtain  peace  in  the  world."  The  pacifists 
knew  that  battleships  were  built  for  war,  and  standing 
armies  were  created  to  fight.  ]\Ioreover,  a  popular  as- 
sembly even  of  militarists  must  first  agree  on  some  plan 
before  it  could  be  acted  upon.  Therefore,  any  measure, 
in  a  popular  assembly  of  pacifists  and  militarists,  each 
of  whom  had  different  notions  as  to  how  peace  could  be 
maintained  or  how  adequate  preparedness  could  be  pro- 
vided for,  had  a  long  and  slow  journey  ahead  of  it. 
But  the  President's  ideas  on  the  subject  were  before 
the  nation,  and  each  citizen  was  asking  himself  and  his 
neighbor  as  well  the  questions  that  the  President  asked 
at  the  beginning  of  his  address :  * '  What  is  meant  by 
preparedness?"  And  ''What  is  it  that  it  is  suggested 
we  should  be  prepared  to  do  ? "  And  the  answers  every- 
where seemed  to  be,  "Yes,  what?" 

The  press  of  the  nation  helped  the  debate  along. 
Although  the  President's  specific  plan  for  a  national 
defense  was  criticised  in  many  quarters,  his  general  pur- 
pose, it  was  declared,  "seems  to  accord  with  the  mature 
sentiment   of  the   country."     The   European  war  was 


362  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

affecting  the  nerves  of  the  American  people,  and  the 
press  of  the  country  began  calling  for  a  statement  of 
our  actual  preparedness. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Garrison,  reported  that 
the  regular  army  embraced  92,000  men  and  officers,  and 
that  only  about  one-third  of  that  number,  or  about  31,000 
constituted  the  real  fighting  strength  of  the  army,  in 
movable  forces.  The  remainder,  or  about  61,000  men 
and  officers,  were  placed  in  quarter-master  and  hospital 
corps,  in  non-combatant  administrative  and  executive 
boards,  and  in  the  Philippines,  Hawaii,  Panama,  China, 
Alaska,  and  Porto  Rico.  This  information  had  a  double 
effect — (1)  the  people  were  astonished  that  American 
soldiers  were  quartered  in  so  many  corners  of  the  globe, 
and  (2)  they  were  surprised  to  learn  that  we  had  so 
few  soldiers  ready  for  actual  service. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  called  attention  to  the 
Report  of  the  General  Board  of  the  Navy  Department 
submitted  by  Admiral  Dewey.  It  showed  that  there  was 
an  actual  shortage  of  4,565  men  to  man  adequately  all 
the  vessels  even  then  serviceable  for  war,  and  that 
the  fighting  strength  of  the  navy  was  greatly  inferior 
to  that  of  England  and  second  to  that  of  Germany.  The 
63rd  Congress  came  to  a  close  on  March  4,  1915,  without 
considering  the  much  debated  question  of  adequate 
national  defense.  The  President  had  no  definite  plan 
ready  for  consideration  and  the  ardent  advocates  of 
preparedness  could  reach  no  agreement. 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  363 

However,  in  the  early  spring  of  1915  scarcely  a  day 
passed  without  bringing  a  story  of  some  indignity  to 
American  citizens  or  some  insult  to  the  American  flag. 
Vessels  were  seized  by  England ;  goods  were  confiscated ; 
and  American  commerce  was  in  distress.  Moreover, 
American  vessels  were  caught  in  the  German  submarine 
war  zone,  and  stories  of  the  destruction  of  commerce  and 
the  murder  of  American  citizens  struck  terror  to  the 
pacifists  and  aroused  the  fighting  instinct  of  the 
militarists. 

Finally,  on  May  7,  came  the  great  tragedy  of  the  war, 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusiiania.  Such  a  crime  against 
humanity  by  a  civilized  nation  had  been  unthinkable. 
But  now  it  was  felt,  and  the  feelings  were  tumultuous 
and  dangerous.  National  preparedness,  up  to  that  time, 
had  been  largely  an  academic  question.  But  now,  the 
nation  was  mad.  Amid  all  the  clamor  and  confusion 
of  bluster  and  alarms,  the  one  man  who  had  asked  Con- 
gress to  consider  a  permanent  policy  for  the  defenses  of 
the  nation,  w^as  the  least  disturbed  outwardly,  and  the 
best  fitted  apparently  to  guide  the  nation  in  the  crisis. 
Military  preparedness  had  now  become  a  real  issue. 

The  months  of  May  and  June  were  crowded  with 
events  of  direful  forebodings.  The  National  Security 
League,  which  was  organized  December  1,  1914,  to 
"arouse  the  public  to  a  realization  of  our  national  pre- 
paredness," held  a  nation-wide  conference,  June  14  and 
15,  which  over  10,000  delegates  attended.     The  press 


364  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

was  full  of  the  speeches  of  this  conference  when  Mr. 
Bryan  resigned  from  the  cabinet;  then  the  possibility 
of  war  and  the  state  of  our  national  defenses  both 
rushed  to  the  front  pages  of  the  newspapers.  Germany 's 
explanation  of  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  was  unsatis- 
factory; and  the  metropolitan  newspapers  were  issuing 
extras  and  calling  the  nation  to  arms. 

A  hundred  years  ago  when  the  nations  of  Europe  were 
fighting  for  existence  and  American  commerce  was  being 
ruthlessly  destroyed  by  the  warring  powers,  the  people 
of  the  United  States  were  so  indignant  that  they  could 
hardly  wait  even  for  the  Administration  to  declare  war. 
It  was  then  recognized  that  our  state  of  preparedness 
was  so  poor,  that  this  knowledge  in  itself  made  the  war 
spirit  in  America  increase  tremendously.  The  people  of 
the  nation,  while  Congress  was  debating,  made  generous 
subscriptions,  built  ships  of  war,  armed  them  them- 
selves, and  actually  loaned  them  to  the  government.  All 
the  large  cities  from  Boston  to  Charleston  made  large 
donations.  The  women  made  flags  and  worked  banners 
while  the  American  people  everywhere  were  drinking 
toasts  to  the  ''rising  American  navy."  The  clamor  for 
preparedness  and  a  realization  of  our  poor  defense  a 
hundred  years  ago  swept  thousands  of  civilians  into  a 
war  party,  it  was  argued,  who  doubtless  would  have 
remained  undisturbed  if  the  nation  had  been  strong  and 
vigorous  enough  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  war  on  the 
high  seas. 


MILITARY  TREPAREDNESS  365 

In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1915,  history  was  repeating 
itself.  The  agitators  for  a  great  navy  and  army  were 
so  vociferous  that  what  they  lacked  in  numbers  they 
made  up  in  sound,  and  the  extremists  so  muddled  the 
matter  that  no  one  program  was  proposed  having  behind 
it  the  sanction  of  a  large  part  of  the  country.  It  was 
recognized  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war  that  a 
great  revolution  had  taken  place  in  military  and  naval 
warfare,  and  men  naturally  began  to  question  the  effi- 
ciency of  both  our  army  and  our  navy.  But,  now,  gener- 
alities would  not  satisfy,  numerical  comparisons  were 
not  convincing.  The  people  were  demanding  detailed 
information. 

The  army  experts  were  put  to  work  studying  our  land 
defenses.     But  America  had  little  to  fear  then  from  an 
invasion.    The  immediate  necessity  was  for  an  adequate 
navy ;  and,  everywhere  the  people  seemed  to  feel  keenly 
this   need.     However,   the   President   had  asked,   ''who 
shall  tell  us  now  what  sort  of  navy  to  build?"   .      .      . 
"When  will  the  experts  tell  us  just  what  kind  (of  ships) 
we   should   construct  T'      The   submarine   warfare   had 
made  the  future  uncertain.    Therefore,  Mr.  Daniels,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  acting  on  the  suggestion  of  the 
President,  organized  a  Naval  Advisory  Board  composed 
of  a  number  of  scientists  for  the  purpose  of  making 
available  the  latent  inventive  genius  of  the  country  to 
improve  the  navy.     Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  was  asked 
to  accept  the  chairmanship  of  this  new  board  and  eleven 


366  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

engineering  and  scientific  societies  were  requested  to 
select  two  members  each  to  represent  their  respective 
societies  on  the  Board. 

The  members  of  the  Naval  Advisory  Board  met  in 
Washington  October  6,  and  after  organizing  called  on 
the  President  in  a  body.  Mr.  Wilson  had  said  in  his 
address  to  Congress  on  December  7,  that  "we  shall  learn 
and  profit  by  the  lesson  of  every  experience  and  every 
new  circumstance." 

The  experience  of  all  neutral  nations  during  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1915  had  been  so  shocking,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances at  that  time  were  so  critical,  that  when  this 
Board  appeared  before  him,  Mr.  Wilson  showed  very 
clearly  that  he  believed  the  time  had  come  ''to  defend 
the  life  of  this  nation  against  any  sort  of  interference. ' ' 

'^I  think  the  whole  nation  is  convinced,"  he 
said  to  the  Board,  ^  ^  that  we  ought  to  be  prepared, 
not  for  war  but  for  defense,  and  very  adequately 
prepared,  and  that  the  preparation  for  defense  is 
not  merely  a  technical  matter,  that  it  is  not  a 
matter  that  the  army  and  navy  alone  can  take 
care  of,  but  a  matter  in  which  we  must  have  the 
cooperation  of  the  best  brains  and  knowledge  of 
the  country,  outside  the  official  service  of  the  Gov- 
ernment as  well  as  inside." 

And  he  assured  the  members  that  he  was  seeking  the 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  357 

best  expert  advice.  It  was  two  months  before  the  6-ith 
Congress  would  assemble  and  he  personally  desired  all 
the  light  possible. 

^'I  want  you  to  feel,''  he  said,  '^ those  of  you 
who  are  coming  to  the  assistance  of  the  profes- 
sional officers  of  the  Government,  that  we  have 
not  asked  you  to  associate  yourselves  with  us 
except  for  a  very  definite  and  practical  purpose — 
to  get  you  to  give  us  your  best  independent  judg- 
ments as  to  how  we  ought  to  make  ready  for  any 
duty  that  may  fall  upon  the  nation. ' ' 

The  nation  was  really  aroused  over  the  question.  The 
World's  Work  in  November  published  the  result  of  "a 
poll  of  261  newspapers  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  of  all  complexions  politically,  on  the  need 
for  strengthening  the  national  defense."  Only  six  of 
this  number  "showed  any  doubt  of  a  need  for  stronger 
national  defense. ' '  Therefore,  the  Editor  concluded,  ' '  if 
the  newspapers  accurately  reflect  public  opinion,  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  practically  unanimous  in 
their  wish  for  improvement  of  the  national  defenses." 
However,  there  was  such  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
means  and  methods  for  reaching  the  prepared  state  that 
''a  statistical  comparison  of  views  thus  became  absurd." 

Although  President  Wilson  referred  to  a  preparedness 


368  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

plan  several  times  during  the  summer  and  fall,  he  did 
not  enter  into  a  thorough  discussion  of  it  again  until  just 
a  month  before  the  opening  of  the  64th  Congress.  It 
had  already  become  very  evident  to  his  more  intimate 
advisers  that  not  only  the  task  of  preserving  neutrality 
and  the  fundamentals  of  international  law  but  the  dan- 
gers which  were  constantly  increasing,  were  changing  his 
views  on  preparedness  or  modifying  them  very  greatly. 
This  made  him  the  target  for  the  many  who  differed  from 
him  both  in  his  own  party  and  in  the  opposing  party. 
For  military  preparedness  was  no  longer  a  party  ques- 
tion. 

However,  he  faced  the  issue,  fortified  by  his  matured 
convictions  and  did  not  falter  in  the  least  because  it  dif- 
fered somewhat  from  his  earlier  utterances.  *'The 
statesman,"  he  had  said,  "stands  in  the  midst  of  life  to 
interpret  life  in  political  action. ' '  A  man  ' '  may  distrust 
his  own  intellectual  processes  but  if  he  finds  his  heart 
part  of  the  great  throb  of  a  national  life,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  about  it.  If  that  is  his  happy  circumstance, 
then  he  may  know  that  he  is  a  part  of  one  of  the  great 
forces  of  the  world." 

When  his  first  address  on  preparedness  was  delivered 
there  were  too  many  conflicting  opinions  in  the  nation 
and  the  occasion  was  so  close  to  the  beginning  of  the 
war  when  few  men  indeed  had  given  the  subject  enough 
calm  judgment  to  reach  a  safe  conclusion.  And  ]\Ir. 
Wilson,  the  statesman,  stood  in  the  midst  of  that  surging 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  3^9 

life  which  was  impossible  of  interpretation,  save  that  the 
people  wished  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  war. 

A  year  later,  however,  experts  were  ready  with  definite 
information  about  the  state  of  our  defenses.  The  Euro- 
pean war  had  diminished  the  value  of  the  latest  inven- 
tions, and  new  methods  of  warfare  had  shown  the  weak- 
ness of  the  old  defenses.  Moreover,  the  conduct  of  the 
belligerents  and  the  menacing  IMexican  revolution 
brought  into  clearer  light  the  dangers  that  threatened 
from  without.  And  the  President  was  ready  to  act,  for 
he  was  now  unmistakably  aware  that  his  heart  was  "a 
part  of  the  great  throb  of  a  national  life. ' ' 

On  November  6  he  was  the  guest  of  the  Manhattan 
Club  of  New  York,  and  he  took  this  occasion  to  amiounce 
to  the  American  people  that  the  time  had  arrived  when 
it  was  necessary  to  prepare  "ourselves  to  vindicate  our 
right  to  independent  and  unmolested  action  by  making 
the  force  that  is  in  us  all  ready  for  assertion. ' '  However, 
as  he  argued  for  immediate  adequate  preparedness,  he 
was  painstaking  in  his  efforts  to  reassure  all  men  that 
"the  mission  of  America  in  the  world  is  essentially  a 
mission  of  peace  and  good  will,  "but  that  the  time  had 
come  "to  make  sure  of  our  own  security." 

He  then  declared  that  'Sve  do  want  to  feel  that 
tliere  is  a  great  body  of  citizens  who  have  received 
at  least  the  most  rudimentary  and  necessary 
forms    of   military   training;    that   they   will   be 


370  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ready  to  form  themselves  into  a  fighting  force 
at  the  call  of  the  nation;  and  that  the  nation 
has  the  munitions  and  supplies  with  which  to 
equip  them  without  delay  should  it  be  necessary 
to  call  them  into  action.  We  wish  to  supply  them 
with  the  training  they  need,  and  we  think  we  can 
do  so  without  calling  them  at  any  time  too  long 
away  from  their  civilian  pursuits.^' 

And  he  advised  the  nation  that  he  was  com- 
pleting  his  plans  ^Svliich  it  will  be  my  privilege 
to  lay  before  the  Congress  at  the  next  session." 
And  that  plan,  he  said,  *^  calls  for  only  such  an 
increase  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States 
as  experience  has  proved  to  be  required  for  the 
performance  of  the  necessary  duties  of  the  army 
in  the  Philippines,  in  Hawaii,  in  Porto  Rico,  upon 
the  borders  of  the  United  States,  at  the  coast 
fortifications,  and  at  the  military  posts  of  the 
interior. ' ' 

^'For  the  rest,''  he  said,  ^4t  calls  for  the  train- 
ing within  the  next  three  years  of  a  force  of 
400,000  citizen  soldiers  to  be  raised  in  annual  con- 
tingents of  133,000,  who  would  be  asked  to  enlist 
for  three  years  with  the  colors  and  three  years 
on  furlough,  but  who  during  their  three  years 
of  enlistment  mth  the  colors  would  not  be  organ- 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  371 

ized  as  a  standing  force  but  would  be  expected 
merely  to  undergo  intensive  training  for  a  very 
brief  period  of  each  year.  Their  training  would 
take  place  in  immediate  association  with  the 
organized  units  of  the  regular  army.  It  w^ould 
have  no  touch  of  the  amateur  about  it,  neither 
would  it  exact  of  the  volunteers  more  than  they 
could  give  in  any  one  year  from  their  civilian 
pursuits." 

After  outlining  his  plan  for  improving  the  army,  he 
spoke  of  the  needs  of  the  navy.  The  experts  had  been  at 
work  and  they  were  able  now  to  give  him  a  partial 
answer  to  the  question  that  he  asked  nearly  a  year  before. 
And  his  remarks  on  the  state  of  the  navy  brought  some 
relief  to  the  pacifists,  but  quick  condemnation  from  many 
militarists. 

*^It  has  been  the  American  policy  time  out  of 
mind,"  he  said,  ^^to  look  to  the  navy  as  the  first 
and  chief  line  of  defense.  The  navy  of  the  United 
States  is  already  a  very  great  and  efficient  force. 
Not  rapidly,  but  slowly,  with  careful  attention, 
our  naval  force  has  been  developed  until  the  navy 
of  the  United  States  stands  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  efficient  and  notable  of  modern  time. 

*'A11  that  is  needed  to  bring  it  to  a  point  of 


372  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

extraordinary  force  and  efficiency  as  compared 
with  the  other  navies  of  the  world  is  that  we 
should  hasten  our  pace  in  the  policy  we  have  long 
been  pursuing,  and  that  chief  of  all  we  should 
have  a  definite  policy  of  development,  not  made 
from  year  to  year,  but  looking  well  into  the  future 
and  planning  for  a  definite  consummation. 

''We  can  and  should  profit  in  all  that  we  do 
by  the  experience  and  example  that  have  been 
obvious  to  us  by  the  military  and  naval  events  of 
the  actual  present.  It  is  not  merely  a  matter  of 
building  battleships  and  cruisers  and  submarines, 
but  also  a  matter  of  making  sure  that  we  shall 
have  the  adequate  equipment  of  men  and  muni- 
tions and  supplies  for  the  vessels  we  build  and 
intend  to  build.'* 

In  closing  this  very  notable  address,  he  declared  it  to 
be  his  purpose  to  call  for  "the  hearty  support  of  the 
country,  of  the  rank  and  file  of  America,  of  men  of  all 
shades  of  political  opinion,"  for  he  said,  ''we  are  dealing 
with  things  that  are  vital  to  the  life  of  America  itself. ' ' 

He  was  now  speaking  to  the  American  people,  not  to 
Congress.  He  was  talking  as  the  executive  of  the  nation 
to  a  free  people  who  were  deeply  concerned  over  the 
matter.  Many  of  his  closest  friends  who  agreed  with  his 
first  utterances  on  the  question  of  national  defense  and 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  373 

applauded  him,  now  disagreed  with  him  and  denounced 
him.  However,  new  circumstances  had  arisen  and  he 
was  rising  to  meet  the  new  demands  incident  to  these 
changed  conditions. 

He  was  speaking  as  the  head  of  the  nation  and 
in  a  spirit  of  the  finest  patriotism  when  he  asked 
the  people  to  answer  if  his  plan  was  *'sane  and 
reasonable  and  suited  to  the  hour."  ^'Does  it 
conform,"  he  asked,  ^'to  the  ancient  traditions  of 
America?  Has  any  better  plan  been  proposed 
than  this  program  that  we  place  before  the 
country?"  And  then  he  assured  the  country 
that  although  the  plan  he  favored  ^  ^  represents  the 
best  professional  and  expert  judgment  of  the 
country,"  if  a  better  plan  can  be  proposed,  he 
desired  its  adoption.  But  ^'if  men  differ  with 
me  in  this  vital  matter,  I  shall  ask  them  to  make 
it  clear  how  far  and  in  what  way  they  are  inter- 
ested in  making  the  permanent  interests  of  the 
country  safe  against  disturbances." 

This  address  created  tremendous  interest  throughout 
the  country.  The  peace  party  was  wildly  excited  and  the 
President  was  accused  of  abandoning  the  position  he  had 
so  firmly  taken  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The  mili- 
tarists for  the  most  part  were  delighted,  for  they  saw  the 


374  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

President  taking  the  stand  they  had  urged  him  to  take 
from  the  first.  But  now  more  than  ever  before  the 
issue  was  before  the  public ;  and  clubs,  debating  societies, 
old  men  and  young  men,  the  press  and  law-making  bodies 
throughout  the  nation  renewed  their  arguments. 

One  characteristic  of  the  American  people  is  their 
ardent  desire  for  an  argument.  Every  great  policy  that 
the  President  directed  through  Congress  was  argued  first 
by  the  people  even  before  Congress  had  received  it  in  the 
shape  of  a  bill,  and  the  people  seem  to  settle  it,  somehow, 
the  way  Congress  settles  it ;  but  frequently  settle  it 
first.  Therefore,  before  Congress  assembled  on  the  6th 
of  December,  the  press  throughout  the  country  had  pre- 
sented the  issue  to  the  people,  and  the  people  began  call- 
ing on  Senators  and  Members  to  give  their  views,  even 
before  the  delegates  arrived  in  Washington. 

When  the  64th  Congress  assembled,  the  Secretary  of 
War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  had  heard  from  their 
experts,  and  they  had  compiled  their  reports  on  the  con- 
dition of  the  Army  and  the  Navy.  Their  recommenda- 
tions were  embodied  in  these  reports,  which  had  been 
forecasted  by  the  President  in  his  address  before  the 
Manhattan  Club.  In  speaking  to  Congress  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Secretary  of  War,  he  said : 

^^Tliey  contemplate  an  increase  of  the  standing 
force  of  the  regular  army  from  its  present 
strength   of   5,023    officers    and    102,985    enlisted 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  375 

men  of  all  services  to  a  strengtli  of  7,136  officers 
and  134,707  enlisted  men,  or  141,843  all  told,  all 
services,  rank,  and  file  by  the  addition  of  fifty-two 
companies  of  coast  artillery,  fifteen  companies  of 
engineers,  ten  regiments  of  infantry,  four  regi- 
ments of  field  artillery,  and  four  aero-squadrons, 
besides  750  officers  required  for  a  great  variety 
of  extra  service,  especially  the  all-important  duty 
of  training  the  citizen  force  of  which  I  shall  pres- 
ently speak,  792  non-commissioned  officers  for 
service  in  drill,  recruiting,  and  the  like,  and  the 
necessary  quota  of  enlisted  men  for  the  Quarter- 
master Corps,  the  Hospital  Corps,  the  Ordinance 
Department,  and  other  similar  auxiliary  services. 
These  are  the  additions  necessary  to  render  the 
army  adequate  for  its  present  duties,  duties  which 
it  has  to  perform  not  only  upon  our  own  conti- 
nental coasts  and  borders  and  at  our  interior 
army  posts,  but  also  in  the  Philippines,  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  at  the  Isthmus,  and  in  Porto 
Eico.'' 

He  next  recommended  the  plan,  agreed  upon  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  outlined  in  his  IManhattan  Club 
speech,  to  provide  for  training  a  force  of  400,000  dis- 
ciplined citizens.  There  was  to  be  no  compulsory  mili- 
tary training ;  but  he  said : 


376  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

^^It  would  depend  upon  the  patriotic  feeling  of 
the  younger  men  of  the  country  whether  they 
respond  to  such  a  call  to  service  or  not.  It  would 
depend  upon  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  employers 
of  the  country  whether  they  make  it  possible  for 
the  younger  men  in  their  employment  to  respond 
under  favorable  conditions  or  not. '  ^ 

When  he  came  to  the  needs  of  the  Navy  Department, 
he  went  more  into  details  than  ever  before.  Referring 
to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  said : 

^  ^  The  program  wdiich  will  be  laid  before  you  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  similarly  conceived. 
It  involves  only  a  shortening  of  the  time  within 
which  plans  long  matured  shall  be  carried  out; 
but  it  does  make  definite  and  explicit  a  program 
which  has  heretofore  been  only  implicit,  held  in 
the  minds  of  the  Committees  on  Naval  Affairs 
and  disclosed  in  the  debates  of  the  two  Houses, 
but  nowhere  formulated  or  formally  adopted.  It 
seems  to  me  very  clear  that  it  will  be  to  the 
advantage  of  the  country  for  Congress  to  adopt  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  putting  the  navy  upon  a 
final  footing  of  strength  and  efficiency,  and  to  press 
that  plan  to  completion  w^ithin  the  next  five  years.'' 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  377 

He  then  gave  the  nation  a  definite  program  which  the 
Navy  Department  recommended  and  which  he  was  en- 
dorsing and  commending  to  the  consideration  of  Con- 
gress. 

''The  program  to  be  laid  before  you,''  he  said, 
''contemplates  the  construction  within  ^ve  years 
of  ten  battleships,  six  battle  cruisers,  ten  scout 
cruisers,  fifty  destroyers,  fifteen  fleet  submarines, 
eighty-five  coast  submarines,  four  gunboats,  one 
hospital  ship,  two  ammunition  ships,  two  fuel  oil 
ships,  and  one  repair  ship.  It  is  proposed  that 
of  this  number  we  shall  the  first  year  provide 
for  the  construction  of  two  battleships,  two  battle 
cruisers,  three  scout  cruisers,  fifteen  destroyers, 
five  fleet  submarines,  twenty-five  coast  subma- 
rines, two  gunboats,  and  one  hospital  ship;  the 
second  year,  two  battleships,  one  scout  cruiser, 
ten  destroyers,  four  fleet  submarines,  fifteen  coast 
submarines,  one  gunboat,  and  one  fuel  oil  ship; 
the  third  year,  two  battleships,  one  battle  cruiser, 
two  scout  cruisers,  ^ve  destroyers,  two  fleet  sub- 
marines, and  fifteen  coast  submarines ;  the  fourth 
year,  two  battleships,  two  battle  cruisers,  two 
scout  cruisers,  ten  destroyers,  two  fleet  subma- 
rines, fifteen  coast  submarines,  one  ammunition 


378  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ship,  and  one  fuel  oil  ship ;  and  the  fifth  year,  two 
battleships,  one  battle  cruiser,  two  scout  cruisers, 
ten  destroyers,  two  fleet  submarines,  fifteen  coast 
submarines,  one  gunboat,  one  ammunition  ship, 
and  one  repair  ship. 

^^The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  asking  also 
for  the  immediate  addition  to  the  personnel  of 
the  Navy  of  7,500  sailors,  2,500  apprentice  sea- 
men, and  1,500  marines.  This  increase  would  be 
sufficient  to  care  for  the  ships  Avliich  are  to  be 
completed  within  the  fiscal  year  1917,  and  also  for 
the  number  of  men  which  must  be  put  in  training 
to  man  the  ships  which  will  be  completed  early 
in  1918.  It  is  also  necessary  that  the  number  of 
midshipmen  at  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis 
should  be  increased  by  at  least  300  in  order  that 
the  force  of  officers  should  be  more  rapidly  added 
to;  and  authority  is  asked  to  appoint,  for  en- 
gineering duties  only,  approved  graduates  of 
engineering  colleges,  and  for  service  in  the  Avia- 
tion Corps  a  certain  number  of  men  taken  from 
civil  life. 

^^If  this  full  program  should  be  carried  out 
we  should  have  built  or  building  in  1921,  accord- 
ing to  the  estimates  of  survival  and  standards  of 
classification  followed  by  the  General  Board  of 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  379 

the  Department,  an  effective  navy  consisting  of 
twenty-seven  battleships  of  the  first  line,  six 
battle  cruisers,  twenty-five  battleships  of  the 
second  line,  ten  armored  cruisers,  thirteen  scout 
cruisers,  five  first-class  cruisers,  three  second-class 
cruisers,  ten  third-class  cruisers,  108  destroyers, 
eighteen  fleet  submarines,  157  coast  submarines, 
six  monitors,  twenty  gunboats,  four  supply  ships, 
fifteen  fuel  ships,  four  transports,  three  tenders  to 
torpedo  vessels,  eight  vessels  of  special  types,  and 
two  ammunition  ships.  This  would  be  a  navy  fitted 
to  our  needs  and  worthy  of  our  traditions." 

This  much  discussed  question  was  at  last  in  shape  for 
official  consideration.  On  the  morning  before  President 
Wilson  laid  this  important  program  before  Congress, 
the  New  York  World  published  the  views  of  prominent 
men  of  the  nation  without  regard  to  special  occupations 
or  political  parties.  The  two  ex-presidents,  governors, 
college  presidents,  captains  of  industry,  men  of  interna- 
tional reputation  as  lawyers  and  scientists,  presented  a 
unanimity  of  views  that  was  remarkable.  All  agreed 
that  "preparedness"  is  the  prominent  issue  today,  and 
that  it  is  in  no  sense  a  party  measure.  Many  disagreed 
with  the  President  as  to  details,  but  almost  without 
exception  the  voice  was  one— we  should  be  prepared  for 
emergencies. 


380  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Although  there  was  much  disagreement  over  the  details 
of  the  President's  plan,  no  one  with  any  respectable  fol- 
lowing had  come  forward  with  a  better  plan ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  this  babel  of  words  the  conservative  press  of  the 
country  was  urging  Congress  to  accept  the  President's 
plans  as  they  were,  since  it  was  the  one  recommendation 
on  which  there  was  the  most  agreement.  Not  in  years 
had  there  been  more  confusion  over  a  great  national 
question. 

The  House  and  Senate  committees,  much  affected  by 
the  situation,  were  very  cautious  in  making  provisions 
for  a  budget  sufficient  to  provide  the  means  of  safe- 
guarding the  nation,  or  of  providing  additional  reve- 
nue. How  much  money  would  be  required?  How  was 
the  extra  cost  to  be  raised  ?  And  a  considerable  number 
of  Representatives  took  the  position  that  no  bill  for  rais- 
ing revenue  to  provide  for  the  additional  expense  should 
be  framed  until  the  naval  and  military  committees  had 
reported  their  national  defense  measures.  But  others 
contended  that  the  naval  and  military  committees  should 
not  report  bills  for  national  defense  until  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee  had  prepared  a  plan  for  raising 
revenue. 

It  was  quite  evident  that  if  the  national  defenses  were 
strengthened,  Congress  must  provide  additional  revenue. 
The  President  suggested  that  ''we  should  be  following 
an  almost  universal  example  of  modern  government  if 
we  were  to  draw  the  greater  part  or  even  the  whole  of 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  331 

the  revenue  we  need  from  the  income  tax."  He  also 
pointed  to  ''many  additional  sources  of  revenue  which 
can  justly  be  resorted  to."  However,  he  left  that  prob- 
lem with  the  Ways  and  IMeans  Committee  but  advised 
them  "that  the  industry  of  this  generation  should  pay 
the  bills  of  this  generation." 

President  Wilson  believed  strongly  in  a  public  con- 
science and  a  public  passion.  And  in  all  of  his  acts  he 
seemed  to  be  seeking  earnestly  to  interpret  that  con- 
science and  understand  that  passion. 

**I  am  not  put  here  to  do  what  I  please,''  he 
said,  ''I  am  put  here  to  interpret,  to  register, 
to  suggest,  and,  more  than  that,  and  much  greater 
than  that,  to  be  suggested  to.''  He  admitted  that 
^*in  domestic  matters  I  think  I  can  in  most  cases 
come  pretty  near  a  guess  where  the  thought  of 
America  is  going  to  be,  but  in  foreign  affairs  the 
chief  element  is  where  action  is  going  on  in  other 
quarters  of  the  world  and  not  where  thought  is 
going  on  in  the  United  States." 

In  all  of  his  leading  policies,  therefore,  he  first  sought 
to  interpret  the  spirit  of  America.  He  knew  that  spirit 
was  for  peace,  and  this  accorded  with  his  own  thought 
and  feelings.  He  knew  also  that  that  spirit  was  for  an 
adequate  preparedness  in  order  that  America  might  not 
be  molested  in  the  enjoyment  of  its  own  rights  and  privi- 


382  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

leges.  And  this  national  spirit  accorded  also  with  his 
own  thoughts  and  feelings,  for  altered  circumstances  due 
to  unusual  conditions  in  Europe,  had  compelled  the 
American  spirit  to  take  this  direction.  Therefore,  he 
entered  into  the  campaign  for  adequate  preparedness 
with  all  the  zeal  of  a  crusader. 

"When  the  new  year  (1916)  opened,  military  prepared- 
ness was  the  paramount  issue  and  it  was  demanding  a 
hearing  before  all  others.  Mr.  Wilson  had  only  to  sit  and 
listen  in  order  to  hear  the  voice  and  to  feel  the  heart 
vibrations.  A  large  number  of  organizations  were  con- 
ducting campaigns  all  over  the  country  to  focus  atten- 
tion on  national  defense  issues.  Among  these  were  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  United 
Confederate  Veterans,  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy, 
Spanish  War  Veterans,  the  Navy  League  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  recently  organized  Women's  Section  of 
the  Navy  League.  The  American  Defense  Society  began 
publishing  a  magazine  in  which  President  Wilson's  fight 
for  preparedness  was  strongly  endorsed,  and  the  newly 
organized  Committee  on  Industrial  Relations  announced 
that  it  was  preparing  to  conduct  a  vigorous  campaign  in 
the  interest  of  national  defense. 

However,  these  various  leagues,  associations  and  socie- 
ties were  not  altogether  in  harmony  with  the  program 
suggested  by  the  President  or  any  particular  program, 
and  much  of  the  public  discussions  were  for  the  purpose, 


MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  383 

it  seemed,  of  furthering  the  private  ideas  of  particular 
individuals  or  societies.  Still  no  one  with  any  respectable 
following  had  made  any  better  beginning  toward 
strengthening  our  land  and  sea  forces  than  was  set  forth 
in  the  President 's  plans.  And  the  public  voice,  constantly 
increasing  in  volume,  was  urging  Congress  to  act  on  the 
President 's  recommendations. 

The  members  of  Congress  showed  a  willingness  to  pass 
measures  of  defense  if  a  common  agreement  could  be 
reached  as  to  what  measures  to  pass.  But  the  advocates 
of  a  much  larger  army  and  a  much  larger  navy  than  the 
Administration  bills  provided  for  seemed  to  muddle  the 
matter,  w^ithout  in  the  least  strengthening  their  own  posi- 
tion. They  talked  about  compulsory  service  and  uni- 
versal training,  and  they  fretted  and  fussed  and  wasted 
valuable  time  discussing  measures  which  could  not  be  put 
into  effect  for  many  years. 

The  nation  was  harassed  by  outrages  in  Mexico  and  by 
violations  of  rights  of  neutrals  on  the  high  seas,  and 
scarcely  a  day  passed  without  its  special  warning  of  the 
dangers  we  were  incurring.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  men  of 
prominence  in  the  nation,  who  were  speaking  vociferously 
against  the  President's  program,  joined  in  the  cry  for 
war  with  Mexico  and  war  with  Germany  or  England  if 
our  rights  w^ere  not  guaranteed  absolutely,  and  without 
delay. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  New  Year,  however,  the  issue 
had  become  more  hopeful,  since  it  was  becoming  quite 


384  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

clear  that  the  great  fight  would  not  be  along  strictly 
party  lines,  but  would  be  between  preparedness  en- 
thusiasts and  pacifist  enthusiasts,  whatever  the  real 
motives  of  each  might  be.  Many  in  both  camps  were 
accused  of  thinking  more  of  political  advantage  than  of 
national  honor,  while  the  large  majority  of  the  people 
were  earnest  in  their  deep  desire  for  effective  national 
preparedness. 

Since  the  party  in  power,  however,  lacked  as  a 
rule  "articulate  expression  of  a  sufficiently  forcible 
character  to  stimulate  the  national  legislators  to  action" 
the  burden  of  inspiring  the  public  "to  an  unmistakable 
utterance  of  its  will  in  the  matter ' '  was  placed  upon  the 
President.  His  large  personal  popularity,  together  with 
his  eloquence  and  logic,  was  employed  to  induce  the 
people  to  overcome  the  apathetic  indifference,  the  unrea- 
sonable hostility,  and  the  selfish  partisanship  exhibited 
in  Congress,  in  order  that  the  matter  of  our  national 
defenses  might  be  settled  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  President,  therefore,  decided  to  take  the  issue  to 
the  people.  More  than  once  in  his  fight  for  the  New 
Freedom,  did  he  threaten  to  take  the  issue  of  the  moment 
to  the  people.  But,  somehow,  Congress  acted  in  time  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  nation.  But  now  there  was  too 
much  confusion,  too  many  discordant  voices,  and  this 
was  Mr.  Wilson's  method  of  clarifying  the  atmosphere. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   PRESIDENT   TAKES   THE   ISSUE  TO  THE 

PEOPLE 

It  was  on  January  27,  1916,  that  Mr.  Wilson  left  the 
White  House  to  tell  the  people  of  the  East  and  the  West 
of  the  confusion  in  Washington  and  the  pressing  need  of 
the  hour.  The  first  stop  in  his  itinerary  was  New  York. 
Everybody  who  wishes  to  be  heard  in  America,  sooner  or 
later,  goes  to  New  York.  That  city  is  so  vocal,  perhaps, 
because  it  is  so  provincial.  Anyway,  New  York  was  the 
President's  first  point  of  attack,  since  it  was  virtually  the 
home  of  every  society  that  was  working  for  or  against 
the  President's  program. 

There,  he  made  four  speeches,  to  business  men  who 

were  for  preparedness ;  to  ministers  of  the  gospel  who 

were  for  peace ;  to  motion  picture  men,  who  were  neutral ; 

and  to  suffragists,  who  wanted  to  hear  the  President.  But 

neither  the  fraternity,  the  occupation,  nor  the  politics 

of  the  occasion  affected  his  subject.     To  each  group  he 

gave  a  part  of  his  great  theme  with  sufficient  variations 

to  make  it  applicable  to  the  occasion.    And  the  next  day 

the  people  of  the  far  West  who  were  already  making 

preparations  for  his  coming  read  the  first  installment  of 

385 


386  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

his  continued  story  and  became  enthusiastic  to  hear  the 
concluding  chapters. 

He  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  the  people  that  this  nation 
was  in  great  danger.  This  was  his  theme  in  New  York, 
and  he  did  not  depart  from  it  as  he  journeyed  westward. 
And  the  corollary  to  this  main  theme  was  patriotism.  In 
fact  he  was  seeking  always  to  reach  that  center  in  the 
heart  where  patriotism  abides  in  order  that  it  too  might 
become  vocal. 

After  his  visit  to  New  York,  he  returned  to  Washing- 
ton and  made  preparations  for  his  western  trip.  Pitts- 
burgh was  his  next  point.  *'New  circumstances  have 
arisen  which  make  it  necessary  for  America  to  defend 
herself"  was  the  way  he  opened  his  campaign  in  Penn- 
sylvania. But  he  was  in  the  heart  of  the  steel  and  iron 
industry  where  both  business  and  patriotism  were  in 
sympathy  with  his  program. 

At  Cleveland  he  pictured  two-thirds  of  the  world  at 
war  and  defined  America 's  duty  of  the  hour.  ' '  We  have 
interests  that  are  being  slowly  drawn  into  the  maelstrom 
of  this  tremendous  upheaval,"  he  said,  and  Cleveland's 
reply  was  for  preparedness. 

Leaving  Ohio,  he  drove  straight  to  the  center  of  the 
German- American  population.  * '  I  know  that  you  depend 
on  me  to  keep  this  nation  out  of  war"  was  his  greeting 
to  Milwaukee.  Then  he  discussed  the  composite  character 
of  the  American  people;  he  told  the  German- Americans 
to  love  the  land  of  their  birth ;  and  he  sympathized  with 


THE  ISSUE  TO  THE  PEOPLE  387 

them  over  the  cloud  of  suspicion  that  had  rested  awhile 
above  the  fatherland.  But  when  he  appealed  to  them  to 
be  American  citizens  first,  Milwaukee's  response  was  one 
continuous  round  of  applause,  and  the  Mayor  of  that  city 
remarked,  * '  This  is  Milwaukee 's  answer  to  the  world. ' ' 

Having  touched  the  heart  of  the  foreign-bom  popu- 
lation in  the  great  Northwest,  he  returned  by  way  of 
Chicago.  He  reminded*  the  business  men  of  that  city 
that  our  commerce  has  been  interfered  with,  that 
America 's  dangers  * '  come  from  her  contacts  with  the  rest 
of  the  world"  and  that  we  are  living  in  a  world  on  fire 
and  "our  house  is  not  fireproof."  Then,  he  assured  the 
champions  of  preparedness  that  *'we  mean  business." 
And  Chicago  was  convinced  that  it  is  our  duty  to  prepare 
at  once. 

His  itinerary  next  led  him  across  the  Mississippi  and 
into  the  great  corn  states  of  the  West.  He  asked  the  citi- 
zens of  Iowa  who  came  to  hear  him  at  Des  Moines  if  there 
was  really  much  *  *  indifference  and  lethargy  in  the  Middle 
West  with  regard  to  the  defense  of  the  nation. ' '  He  had 
been  told  so.  But  he  said,  "  I  do  not  believe  it,  I  am  going 
out  to  see,"  and  he  was  given  an  unmistakable  and 
unequivocal  response  when  he  asked  lowans,  "Do  you 
wish  to  have  all  the  world  say  that  the  flag  of  the  United 
States  which  we  love  can  be  stained  with  impunity  ? ' ' 

Still  westward  he  carried  his  message  until  he  reached 
the  heart  of  Kansas,  where,  it  was  said,  the  greatest  oppo- 
sition to  his  program  would  be  found.     At  Topeka,  he 


388  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

told  the  farmers  of  this  great  stock  and  grain  country  that- 
the  world  needs  the  wheat  of  the  Kansas  fields  and  ''we 
have  a  right  to  supply  the  rest  of  the  world  with  the 
product  of  these  fields."  He  warned  the  West  of  the 
dangers  to  our  commerce,  and  he  pointed  out  the  diffi- 
culties this  nation  must  overcome  in  keeping  the  lines  of 
trade  open,  and  Kansas  was  full  of  fight,  as  the  President 
learned  when  he  turned  this  sentence,  "Kansas  has  made 
trouble  for  everybody  that  interfered  with  her  liberty  or 
her  rights,  and  if  I  were  to  pick  out  one  place  which  was 
likely  to  rise  first  and  get  hot  first  about  invasion  of  the 
essential  principles  of  American  liberty,  I  certainly  would 
look  to  Kansas  among  the  first  places  in  the  country. ' ' 

At  Kansas  City,  the  scene  at  the  close  of  his  address 
was  dramatic.  Eighteen  thousand  people,  after  listening 
attentively  to  the  close,  made  such  a  demonstration  that 
the  President,  deeply  affected  by  the  uncontrolled 
emotion,  stepped  to  the  front  and  asked  the  audience  if 
he  might  lead  in  singing  "America,"  and  a  tremendous 
chorus,  it  is  said,  was  raised  in  behalf  of, 

My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 
Of  thee  I  sing. 

The  President  was  now  moving  eastward  again,  and 
the  last  stop  in  his  itinerary  was  at  St.  Louis,  where  he 
spoke  twice — once  for  military  preparedness,  and  once 
for  industrial  preparedness.     His  story  was  completed. 


THE  ISSUE  TO  THE  PEOPLE  339 

He  had  come  out  for  a  purpose ;  it  was  accomplished,  and 
he  reassured  himself  that  this  country  is  not  wanting  in 
patriotism.  He  had  made  ten  speeches  in  halls  and  the 
same  number  from  the  rear  platform  of  the  train.  He 
had  spoken  to  approximately  100,000  people  and  had  been 
welcomed  by  perhaps  five  times  that  number.  The  large 
foreign  element  came  out  to  hear  him  and  became 
enthusiastic,  and  the  greatest  demonstration  had  been  at 
the  farthest  points  West,  where,  it  had  been  predicted,  he 
would  have  the  least  sympathy. 

Such  was  the  President's  remarkable  campaign  for 
military  preparedness.  For  a  week  the  press  of  the 
country  kept  this  one  issue  before  the  people,  and  the 
psychological  effect  was  very  great  indeed.  The  nation 
was  astir,  but  a  better  spirit  prevailed.  The  President 
left  the  details  of  the  plan  to  be  worked  out  by  Congress, 
and  the  vocal  part  of  the  nation  was  in  general  accord 
with  the  outlines.  The  patriotism  of  the  nation  was 
aroused,  and,  with  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  for  what  had 
been  accomplished  and  a  confidence  in  v/hat  Congress 
would  do  under  the  steady  pressure  of  the  demands  from 
the  people  down  home,  the  President  returned  to  Wash- 
ington to  hasten  action  and  await  results. 

The  effect  of  the  appeal  to  the  people  was  felt  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  and  the  nations  at  war  pondered 
over  his  words  and  took  warning.  England  read  in  his 
utterances  a  determination  to  force  the  central  powers 
to  another  plane  of  international  morality ;  and  Germany 


390  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

interpreted  his  language  to  mean  that  the  rights  of 
Americans  to  trade  in  Europe  must  be  respected  by  the 
Allies.  And  both  parties  to  the  war  understood  that 
America  was  determined  to  be  prepared  for  any  emerg- 
ency that  might  arise. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS 

The  nation  had  been  discussing  the  issue  for  over 
twelve  months,  and  the  grand  climax  to  all  the  arguments 
and  debates  was  the  President's  tour  of  the  country. 
But  the  time  had  come  now  to  act.  It  was  generally 
agreed  that  our  defenses  should  be  greatly  strengthened 
and  the  efficiency  of  our  military  establishment  should  be 
increased.    But  the  great  question  was,  how? 

The  Federal  Constitution  gave  Congress  the  power  to 
raise  and  support  a  standing  army.  Moreover,  it  was 
empowered  to  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  dis- 
ciplining the  militia  and  for  calling  it  forth  in  times  of 
need.  However,  there  has  not  been  a  decade  since  the 
Constitution  was  established  and  since  these  two  re- 
sources for  the  protection  and  safety  of  the  nation  were 
provided,  that  this  question  has  not  arisen:  Shall  the 
safety  of  our  land  defenses  rest  finally  upon  a  standing 
army,  or  upon  the  militia  ?  In  every  proposed  plan  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  army  or  for  strengthening  our 
defenses,  the  debate  has  revolved  around  this  question. 
It   was    debated    when    the    Federal    Constitution    was 

adopted.    It  was  argued  during  the  war  of  1812.    It  was 

391 


392  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

a  problem  when  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  promulgated; 
and  in  1836,  nearly  fifty  years  after  the  debate  first 
began,  the  whole  argument  was  stated  anew,  though  in 
a  partisan  manner,  by  Edward  Everett  of  Massachusetts : 

''There  are  two  resources,"  he  said,  *'for  protection 
and  safety  in  the  first  outbreaking  of  war  and  in  times 
of  civil  commotion.  One  is  a  well-organized,  patriotic 
militia,  ever  present,  rarely  seen,  quartered  among  us, 
not  in  camps  and  forts,  but  at  the  fireside,  in  the  counting 
room,  the  workshop,  the  place  of  business.  This  is  one. 
The  other  resource  is  a  standing  army,  encamped  on 
Boston  Common  or  stationed  on  Castle  Island.  One  or 
the  other  we  must  have.  And  the  man  who  sets  himself 
to  ridicule  the  militia,  to  exaggerate  the  defects  of  the 
system,  to  embarrass  its  administration,  to  bring  it  into 
discredit,  wishes  one  of  two  things — he  either  wishes  the 
country  to  be  wholly  exposed  to  insult  from  abroad,  and 
a  prey  at  home  to  anarchy,  to  mob  law,  club  law,  and  a 
general  scramble,  or  he  wishes  to  see  a  flag  staff  planted 
in  front  of  the  State  House,  a  couple  of  cannon  pointing 
down  State  Street,  to  hear  the  morning  gun  at  daybreak, 
and  to  hold  the  exercise  of  his  daily  rights  as  a  citizen 
at  the  discretion  of  a  military  commander." 

And  he  proposed  the  following  toast : 

*'A  well-organized,  efficient,  and  patriotic  militia — in 
time  of  peace,  the  bulwark  of  the  law ;  in  war,  the  basis 
of  defense :    ]\Iay  it  be  restored  to  the  public  favor. " 

This  toast  makes  it  quite  evident  that  Edward  Everett 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  393 

was  afraid  of  a  standing  army  and  the  influence  of  the 
army  officer  in  the  nation.  After  eighty  years  that 
feeling  still  abides  in  the  nation.  However,  the  militia 
as  a  real  fighting  machine  is  not  held  in  much  esteem  by 
those  who  think  most  of  arms  and  invasion  and  defenses, 
and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  eighty  years  have  not 
increased  the  love  of  the  army  officer  for  the  militia.  The 
campaign  for  preparedness  was  renewed  in  earnest  soon 
after  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war.  But  every 
measure  that  looked  toward  meeting  the  needs  of  our 
defenses  resolved  itself  sooner  or  later  into  the  old  ques- 
tion, shall  the  standing  army  or  the  militia  be  the  basis 
of  our  defenses  ? 

The  continental  army  plan  that  was  finally  presented 
to  Congress  by  Mr.  Wilson  on  December  7  was  worked 
out  by  Mr.  Garrison,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the 
army  experts.  In  its  purpose  to  create  a  continental 
army  of  400,000  citizen  soldiers  under  direct  national 
control,  it  favored  the  Federal  Army  and  minimized  the 
importance  of  the  National  Guard.  However,  as  soon 
as  it  was  presented  to  the  House,  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs  dissented  and  the  fight  began — the  old, 
old  fight  that  was  more  than  a  century  old. 

Mr.  Garrison  was  unalterably  opposed  to  building  up 
the  National  Guard.  The  Committee  on  Military  Affairs, 
however,  was  in  favor  of  strengthening  the  National 
Guard.  It  was  apparent  to  Mr.  Garrison  that  Congress 
would  turn  down  his  recommendations  unless  President 


394  \YOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Wilson  *' personally  exerted  the  power"  of  his  leadership 
to  save  them.  Therefore,  he  wrote  to  the  President  on 
January  12  and  again  on  the  14th,  urging  him  to  ' '  exert ' ' 
himself  in  behalf  of  the  plan  proposed  and  the  one 
that  the  President  had  recommended  to  the  Congress. 
Mr.  Wilson  replied  three  days  later : 

*^You  believe,  as  I  do,  that  the  chief  thing  nec- 
essary is  that  we  should  have  a  trained  citizen 
reserve,  and  that  the  training,  organization  and 
control  of  that  reserve  should  be  under  immediate 
Federal  direction. 

**But  apparently  I  have  not  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing my  own  position  equally  clear  to  you,  though 
I  feel  sure  that  I  have  made  it  perfectly  clear  to 
Mr.  Hay  (Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs.)  Kemember  that  I  am  not  irre- 
vocably or  dogmatically  committed  to  any  one 
plan  of  providing  the  nation  with  such  a  reserve, 
and  am  certainly  willing  to  discuss  alternate  pro- 
posals. 

*'Any  other  position  on  my  part,''  he  said, 
*^  would  indicate  an  attitude  toward  the  Com- 
mittee on  Military  Affairs  of  the  House  of  Eep- 
resentatives  which  I  should  in  no  circumstances 
feel  at  liberty  to  assume.  It  would  never  be 
proper  or  possible  for  me  to  say  to  any  com- 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  395 

mittee  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  tliat,  so 
far  as  my  participation  in  legislation  was  con- 
cerned, they  would  have  to  take  my  plan  or  none. 

*'I  do  not  share  your  opinion  that  the  members 
of  the  House  who  are  charged  with  the  duty  of 
dealing  with  military  affairs  are  ignorant  of  them 
or  of  the  military  necessities  of  the  nation.  On 
the  contrary,  I  have  found  them  well  informed 
and  actuated  by  a  most  intelligent  appreciation  of 
the  grave  responsibilities  imposed  upon  them.  I 
am  sure  that  Mr.  Hay  and  his  colleagues  are 
ready  to  act  with  a  full  sense  of  all  that  is 
involved  in  this  great  matter,  both  for  the 
country  and  for  the  national  parties  which  they 
represent. 

**My  own  duty  toward  them  is  perfectly  plain. 
I  must  welcome  a  frank  interchange  of  views  and 
a  patient  and  thorough  comparison  of  all  the 
methods  proposed  for  obtaining  the  objects  we 
all  have  in  view.  So  far  as  my  participation  in 
final  legislative  action  is  concerned,  no  one  will 
expect  me  to  acquiesce  in  any  proposal  that 
I  regard  as  inadequate  or  illusory.  If,  as  the 
outcome  of  a  free  interchange  of  views,  my  own 
judgment  and  that  of  the  committee  should  prove 
to  be  irreconcilably  different  and  a  bill  should  be 


396  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

presented  to  me  which  I  could  not  accept  as 
accomplishing  the  essential  things  sought,  it 
would  manifestly  be  my  duty  to  veto  it  and  go 
to  the  country  on  the  merits/' 

He  stated,  furthermore,  that  he  had  had  ''a  delight- 
fully frank  conference  with  Mr.  Hay"  and  had  said  to 
him,  "I  was  perfectly  willing  to  consider  any  plan  that 
would  give  us  a  national  reserve  under  unmistakably 
national  control,  and  would  support  any  such  scheme 
if  convinced  of  its  adequacy  and  wise  policy."  More,  he 
said  Mr.  Hay  had  not  asked  or  desired. 

This  letter  was  not  at  all  satisfactory  to  the  Secretary 
of  War.  But  the  President  left  the  capital  for  a  tour 
of  the  country,  and  the  matter  rested  for  a  few  days. 
However,  in  his  speeches  Mr.  Wilson  did  not  come  out 
emphatically  and  unqualifiedly  for  Mr.  Garrison's  con- 
tinental plan  nor  with  the  emphasis  that  the  Secretary  of 
War  desired.  Therefore,  soon  after  his  return,  he  re- 
ceived a  third  letter  from  Mr.  Garrison  which  contained 
these  words:  "If  we  are  not  in  agreement  upon  these 
fundamental  principles,  then  I  could  not,  with  propriety 
remain  your  seeming  representative." 

One  of  these  ''fundamental  principles"  was  an  amend- 
ment to  the  bill  extending  further  self-government  to  the 
Philippines.  Mr.  Wilson  replied  that  he  also  thought 
that  that  amendment  was  unwise.     The  other  ''funda- 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  397 

mental  principle''  referred  to  pertained  to  the  century 
old  problem,  to  which  i\Ir.  Wilson  replied: 

*^As  I  have  had  occasion  to  say  to  you,  I  am  not 
yet  convinced  that  the  measure  of  preparation  for 
national  defense  which  we  deem  necessary  can 
be  obtained  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
National  Guard  under  Federal  control  and  train- 
ing, but  I  feel  in  duty  bound  to  keep  my  mind 
open  to  conviction  on  that  side,  and  think  that 
it  would  be  most  unwise  and  unfair  to  the  com- 
mittee of  the  House  which  has  such  a  plan  in 
mind  to  say  that  it  cannot  be  done.  The  bill 
in  which  it  will  be  embodied  has  not  yet  been 
drawm,  as  I  learned  from  Mr.  Hay  today.  I 
should  deem  it  a  very  serious  mistake  to  shut  the 
door  against  this  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
mittee in  perfect  good  faith  to  meet  the  essentials 
of  the  program  set  forth  in  my  message,  but  in  a 
way  of  their  o^\^l  choosing. 

*'As  you  know,  I  do  not  at  all  agree  with  you 
in  favoring  compulsory  enlistment  for  training, 
and  I  fear  the  advocacy  of  compulsion  before  the 
committee  of  the  House  on  the  part  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Department  of  War  has 
greatly  prejudiced  the  House  against  the  pro- 


398  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

posal  for  a  Continental  Army,  little  necessary 
connection  as  there  is  between  the  plan  and  the 
opinion  of  the  Chief  of  Staff  in  favor  of  com- 
pulsory enlistment. 

**I  owe  you  this  frank  repetition  of  my  views 
and  policy  in  this  matter,  which  we  have  discussed 
on  previous  occasions  in  the  letters  which  we 
have  exchanged  and  in  conversation.  I  am  very 
much  obliged  to  you  for  your  own  frank  avowal 
of  your  convictions.  I  trust  that  you  will  feel 
no  hesitation  about  expressing  your  personal 
views  on  both  these  subjects  on  the  two  occasions 
to  which  you  refer,  but  I  hope  that  you  will  be 
kind  enough  to  draw  very  carefully  the  distinc- 
tion between  your  own  individual  views  and  the 
views  of  the  Administration. 

*^You  will,  of  course,  understand  that  I  am 
devoting  my  energy  and  attention  unsparingly  in 
conferences  with  members  of  the  various  com- 
mittees of  Congress  in  an  effort  to  procure  an 
agreement  upon  a  workable  and  practicable  pro- 
gram. This  is  a  time  when  it  seems  to  me 
patience  on  the  part  of  all  of  us  is  of  the  essence 
in  bringing  about  a  consummation  of  the  purpose 
we  all  have  in  mind.'' 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  399 

This  letter  was  in  the  nature  of  a  rebuke  to  the  War 
Department  because  of  the  activity  *'on  the  part  of  the 
representatives  of  the  War  Department"  which  "has 
greatly  prejudiced  the  House  against  the  proposal  for  a 
Continental  Army."  Moreover,  it  made  it  clear  to  Mr. 
Garrison  that  the  President  was  not  in  sympathy  with 
many  of  his  views.  Therefore,  he  very  promptly  sent 
his  resignation  to  the  President  and  it  was  accepted  with 
''sincere  regrets." 

The  disagreement  in  the  Cabinet  was  only  a  part  of 
that  larger  disagreement  that  was  evident  everywhere — 
in  Congress,  on  the  streets,  in  public  meetings,  and  in 
the  press. 

Army  officers  were  charged  with  exercising  undue  in- 
fluence in  order  "to  ruin  and  destroy  the  National 
Guard,"  and  it  was  prophesied  that  a  large  standing 
army  in  the  hands  "of  these  Kegular  Army  officers" 
would  lead  "straight  toward  the  bottomless  abyss  of 
oblivion,  into  which  every  free  nation  which  has  pre- 
ceded us  disappeared." 

Moreover,  every  attempt  to  strengthen  the  National 
Guard  was  vigorously  assailed.  Its  advocates  were  ridi- 
culed and  every  measure  or  amendment  that  favored  the 
militia  was  classed  as  ' '  pork  barrel, ' '  meaning,  of  course, 
that  Members  preferred  a  little  provincial  graft  to  a 
strong  standing  army. 

These  two  extreme  views  serve  to  show  the  problem 


400  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  confronted  the  Members  and  Senators  in  the  spring 
of  1916,  when  they  undertook  to  deduce  from  conflicting 
and  hostile  public  sentiment  a  universal  rule  that  would 
appear  just  to  all. 

However,  Congress  must  find  some  way  out  of  the 
difficulty.  The  first  step  was  taken  by  the  House  on 
February  7,  when  two  minor  bills  were  passed.  One 
provides  for  adding  about  300  midshipmen  to  the  enter- 
ing classes  at  the  Naval  Academy.  The  other  authorized 
the  equipping  of  the  navy  yards  at  New  York  and 
Mare's  Island  for  the  construction  of  two  battleships 
already  authorized.  These  bills  were  passed  without  a 
dissenting  vote.  The  cheerful  feature  of  the  advocates' 
program  was  seen  in  the  acts  of  Speaker  Clark,  Democrat, 
and  Minority  Leader  Mann,  Republican.  Both  were 
fighting  side  by  side  for  the  measures.  Preparedness  was 
not  a  partisan  issue. 

The  great  fight  was  over  the  reorganization  of  the 
Army,  not  over  the  increase  asked  for  in  the  Navy.  The 
Hay  plan,  the  Chamberlin  plan,  and  the  War  Department 
plan  were  before  the  Congress  and  the  people  of  the 
nation.  These  three  plans  were  discussed  and  revised 
and  amended  through  March  and  April.  But  in  May 
the  danger  from  Mexico  became  more  portentous.  We 
had  a  long  border  across  which  the  bloody  hand  of  war 
had  already  been  extended.  The  President  had  said  that 
we  did  not  have  troops  sufficient  to  patrol  the  border. 
The  renewal  of  the  submarine  warfare  held  up  grave 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS  40I 

dangers  to  this  nation  and  a  break  with  Germany  was 
threatening.  Still  Congress  argued  and  amended  and 
debated.  But  still  it  was  made  to  appear  that  we  were 
either  threatened  by  a  Standing  Army,  "the  bottomless 
abyss  of  oblivion";  or  by  a  National  Guard,  the  selfish 
greed  of  "pork  barrel"  legislation  and  state  graft. 

The  demand  for  preparedness  became  more  and  more 
insistent.  A  monster  parade  was  planned  in  New  York 
to  give  expression  to  the  feelings  of  the  people,  and  on 
May  13  approximately  140,000  persons  of  all  grades  of 
life  and  of  all  trades  and  professions  from  bankers  to 
industrial  workers,  fell  in  line  and  marched  through 
the  streets.  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison,  the  great  inventor, 
was  at  the  head  of  the  procession. 

New  York's  precedent  was  followed  by  Chicago  with 
a  parade  of  about  125,000  and  Boston  with  approximately 
100,000.  But  Washington's  great  demonstration  pre- 
sented the  President  of  the  United  States  with  a  flag  in 
his  hand  marching  at  the  head  of  the  procession.  Flag 
Day  became  "Preparedness  Day"  in  hundreds  of  cities, 
and  immense  crowds  marched  through  the  streets,  thus 
showing  their  interest  in  the  question.  Moreover,  mayors 
of  nearly  one  hundred  cities  in  nineteen  states  signed  a 
call  for  a  preparedness  convention  to  be  held  in  Chat- 
tanooga, Tennessee,  during  the  first  week  in  June. 

Everybody  was  discussing  preparedness.  Congress 
was  cartooned  for  being  asleep,  for  being  unable  to  act, 
for  being  afraid  of  the  Army  ofiicer,  and  for  falling  in 


402  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

love  with  the  ''pork  barrel."  Every  conceivable  influ- 
ence was  brought  to  bear  on  the  nation's  representatives 
to  urge  them,  to  act  either  this  way  or  that  in  the  defense 
of  the  country. 

Then  finally,  under  this  pressure,  the  two  Houses 
agreed  on  the  last  of  May  to  a  plan  for  the  reorganization 
of  the  Army  and  sent  it  to  the  President. 

While  the  bill  was  lying  on  his  table  waiting  for  him 
to  sign  it,  President  Wilson  delivered  an  address  at  the 
Memorial  Day  exercises  held  in  Arlington  National 
Cemetery,  May  31.  On  this  occasion  he  made  it  clear 
again  that  he  did  not  believe  in  compulsory  military 
training.  '*I  want  to  point  out  to  you,"  he  said,  **the 
only  process  of  preparation  which  is  possible  for  the 
United  States.  It  is  possible  for  the  United  States  to  get 
ready  only  if  the  men  of  suitable  age  and  strength  will 
volunteer  to  get  ready." 

He  reminded  the  people  that  the  latest  bill  for  the 
reorganization  of  the  Army  was  then  lying  on  his  table. 
This  had  come  as  the  result  of  the  great  agitation 
throughout  the  nation.  Everybody  seemed  to  be  talking 
preparedness. 

**I  heard  the  President  of  the  United  States 
Chamber  of  Commerce,"  he  said,  ** report  the 
other  evening  on  a  referendum  of  750  of  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  upon 
the  question  of  preparedness  and  he  reported  that 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PRP:PAREDNESS  403 

99   per    cent    of    them   had   voted    in    favor    of 
preparedness. ' ' 

Then  he  added: 

**Very  well,  now  we  are  going  to  apply  the 
acid  test  to  those  gentlemen  and  the  acid  test  is 
this:  Will  they  give  the  young  men  in  their 
employment  freedom  to  volunteer  for  this  thing? 
I  wish  the  referendum  had  included  that,  because 
that  is  of  the  essence  of  the  matter.'' 

In  other  words,  how  many  of  those  business  men,  who 
were  amply  able,  would  give  the  young  men  a  vacation 
or  even  keep  them  on  the  pay  roll  while  they  went  into 
training  to  offer  their  lives  to  the  best  advantage  for 
their  country's  welfare? 

**It  is  all  very  well,"  he  said,  *^to  say  that 
somebody  else  must  prepare,  but  are  the  business 
men  of  this  country  ready  themselves  to  lend  a 
hand  and  sacrifice  an  interest  in  order  that  we 
may  get  ready?  We  shall  have  an  answer  to  that 
question  in  the  next  few  months.  A  bill  is  lying 
on  my  table  now  ready  to  be  signed  which  bris- 
tles all  over  with  that  interrogation  point,  and  I 
want  all  the  business  men  of  the  country  to  see 


404  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

that    interrogation    point    staring    them    in    the 
face. '  ^ 

The  President  then  returned  to  the  White  House  to 
consider  the  new  act  of  Congress,  and  on  June  3,  he  gave 
it  his  approval  and  a  large  part  of  the  preparedness 
program  had  at  last  become  a  law. 

The  new  act  provides  for  an  increase  in  the  standing 
army  from  a  total  enlisted  strength  of  100,000  to  175,000. 
But  this  increase  is  to  be  made  "in  five  annual  incre- 
ments, each  of  wliich  shall  be,  in  each  grade  of  each  army 
corps  and  department,  as  nearly  as  practicable,  one-fifth 
of  the  total  increase  authorized."  But  in  the  event  of 
actual  or  threatened  war  or  similar  emergency  ' '  in  which 
the  public  safety  demands  it  the  President  is  authorized 
immediately  to  organize  the  entire  increase  authorized 
by  this  Act,  or  so  much  thereof  as  he  may  deem 
necessary." 

All  the  enlistments  in  the  Regular  Army  ''shall  be 
for  a  term  of  seven  years."  This  provision  was  in  the 
old  law.  However,  instead  of  spending  four  years  in 
actual  service  and  three  years  in  the  Reserve,  the  terms 
were  reversed — three  years  in  the  Regular  Army  and 
four  years  in  the  Reserve.  Moreover,  men  who  have  high 
rating  in  the  Regular  Army  can  leave  active  service  at 
the  end  of  one  year  and  go  into  the  Reserves. 

The  Reserves  may  engage  in  ordinary  civil  occupations, 
but  will  be  subject  at  once  to  the  call  of  the  colors  in 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  PREPAREDNESS      '      405 

time  of  danger.  When  the  plan  is  in  full  operation,  it 
is  claimed  that  "the  number  in  the  Reserves  will  be 
theoretically  one-third  greater  than  the  number  in  the 
active  army."  Therefore,  if  the  color  strength  of  the 
fighting  force  is  175,000,  the  Reserves  will  provide,  in 
addition,  about  233,000  men,  or  a  total  of  408,000  soldiers 
immediately  prepared  to  respond  to  the  President's  call 
in  time  of  danger. 

The  ^lilitia  law  in  force  before  this  act  was  passed 
provided:  "that  the  Militia  shall  consist  of  every  able- 
bodied  male  citizen  of  the  respective  states 
and  every  able-bodied  male  of  foreign  birth  who  has 
declared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen,  who  is  more 
than  18  and  less  than  45  years  of  age,  and  shall  be 
divided  into  two  classes — the  organized  militia,  to  be 
known  as  the  National  Guard  .  .  .  or  by  such  other 
designations  as  may  be  given  them  by  the  laws  of  the 
respective  States  or  territories ;  the  remainder  to  be 
known  as  the  reserve  Militia." 

The  new  act  provides  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
National  Guard.  But  the  greatest  change  made  was  in 
providing  for  the  pay  of  officers  and  soldiers.  Therefore, 
it  became  necessary  to  fix  more  definitely  the  size  of  the 
National  Guard  in  the  respective  states.  The  new  act 
provides,  therefore,  that  the  number  of  enlisted  men  of 
the  National  Guard  "shall  be  for  each  state  in  the  pro- 
portion of  two  hundred  such  men  for  each  Senator  and 
Representative. ' '    But  it  may  be  increased  ' '  until  a  total 


406  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

peace  strength  of  not  less  than  eight  hundred  enlisted 
men  for  each  Senator  and  Representative  in  Congress 
shall  have  been  reached."  This  provides,  therefore,  for 
approximately  400,000  soldiers  in  the  National  Guard. 
Thus  after  five  years,  when  both  the  Regular  Army  and 
the  National  Guard  are  fully  organized,  the  nation  will 
have  a  defensive  force  of  about  800,000  soldiers. 

The  law  provides,  moreover,  that  ''each  enlisted  man 
in  the  active  list  belonging  to  an  organization  of  the 
National  Guard  .  .  .  shall  receive  compensation  for 
his  services  .  .  .  at  a  rate  equal  to  twenty-five 
percentum  of  the  initial  pay  now  provided  by  law  for 
enlisted  men  of  corresponding  grades  of  the  Regular 
Army."  But  during  periods  of  service  the  members  of 
the  National  Guard  will  receive  the  same  pay  as  an 
enlisted  man  of  corresponding  grade  of  the  Regular 
Army. 

The  compensation  provided  for  is  based  upon  the  num- 
ber of  drills  attended.  Each  enlisted  man  may  receive 
$48  a  year.  But  the  officers  may  receive  amounts  as 
follows :  Captain,  $500 ;  First  Lieutenant,  $240 ;  Second 
Lieutenant,  $200. 

Whenever  Congress  authorizes  the  use  of  the  armed 
forces  of  the  United  States,  "for  any  purpose  requiring 
the  use  of  troops  in  excess  of  those  of  the  Regular  Army, 
the  President  may  draft  into  the  military  service  of 
the  United  States  to  serve  therein  for  the  period  of  the 


NATION  FOR  MILITARY  TREPAREDNESS  407 

war  .  .  .  any  or  all  members  of  the  National  Guard 
and  of  the  National  Guard  Reserve." 

These  together  with  the  Regular  Army  and  the  Federal 
Reserves  will  place  at  the  call  of  the  nation  about  800,000 
soldiers,  and  within  a  few  years  the  total  may  reach  a 
million  men.  Moreover,  there  is  ample  provision  for 
special  training  camps  and  for  officers '  training  camps  in 
the  colleges,  and  educational  courses  for  the  soldiers  with 
the  colors  to  fit  them  for  some  trade  on  their  return  to 
civil  life. 

No  military  measure  to  compare  with  it  has  ever  been 
passed  by  Congress — not  even  during  the  Civil  War,  and 
with  its  passage  the  greater  part  of  the  fight  for  pre- 
paredness was  over. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  NEED   OF   COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS 

Military  preparedness  was  only  one  of  the  new  issues 
created  by  the  war.  Commerce,  business,  finance,  edu- 
cation— all  were  greatly  affected.  The  war,  therefore, 
had  been  in  progress  only  a  few  weeks  when  commercial 
preparedness  became  a  live  issue.  In  his  campaign  for 
military  preparedness.  President  Wilson  said: 

^*By  an  oversight,  for  which  it  is  difficult  to 
forgive  ourselves,  we  did  not  provide  ourselves 
when  there  was  proper  peace  and  opportunity 
with  a  mercantile  marine,  by  means  of  which  we 
could  carry  the  commerce  of  the  world  without 
interfering  w^ith  the  natives  of  other  nations  which 
might  be  engaged  in  a  controversy  not  our  own.'' 

This  oversight  explains  much  of  the  depression  in 
business,  the  panic  of  the  railroads,  the  closing  of  fac- 
tories, the  decline  in  the  price  of  cotton,  the  rise  in  the 
cost  of  living,  and  the  diminishing  returns  from  the 
tariff  during  the  first  months  of  the  European  war. 
But  how  did  this  ''oversight"  have  such  a  damaging 
effect  on  the  American  people  ? 

408 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  409 

It  was  well  known  in  trade  circles  even  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  European  war  that  the  ships  of  Euro- 
pean nations  were  really  the  carriers  of  American 
commerce.  Only  about  eight  per  cent  of  American  for- 
eign trade  was  carried  in  American  vessels.  Moreover, 
it  is  the  established  policy  of  this  Government  to  draw 
the  larger  part  of  its  revenue  from  the  tariff  which  is 
dependent  upon  this  trade.  Therefore,  any  force  that 
affects  trade  affects,  likewise,  the  whole  commercial  life 
of  the  people  and  the  revenue  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  only  six  steamships  out 
of  the  three  hundred,  more  or  less,  regularly  engaged  in 
the  great  transatlantic  trade  between  the  United  States 
and  Europe,  were  flying  the  American  flag.  Moreover, 
there  were  no  American  steamship  lines  to  the  leading 
countries  of  South  America  with  the  exception  of  one 
freight  line  operated  by  the  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration with  the  chartered  ships  of  the  American- 
Hawaiian  Company  from  New  York  to  Brazil.  Such 
was  America's  commercial  preparedness  to  meet  a  great 
crisis,  when  the  world  should  have  been  her  trade  unit 
and  vessels  flying  the  American  flag  should  have  crowded 
all  the  seas. 

The  vessels  of  Germany  and  England  were  supreme 
on  the  seas.  However,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the 
ships  of  Germany  were  at  once  bottled  up  at  home  or 
interned  in  foreign  ports  to  lie  idle  until  the  end  of  the 


410  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

war.  The  vessels  of  England  were  now  the  servants  of 
the  war.  Many  were  converted  into  naval  auxiliaries. 
]\Iany  more  were  impressed  into  service  as  transports  for 
troops.  The  great  transatlantic  liners  were  carriers  of 
war  munitions,  and  all  were  subject  to  such  risks  that 
war  insurance  made  it  next  to  unprofitable  to  carry  any 
freight  save  war  supplies.  The  result  was  natural — a 
paralysis  of  American  commerce  and  a  stagnation  in  all 
business  circles,  a  decline  in  revenue  and  a  resort  to 
new  and  vexatious  modes  of  taxation,  a  discontent 
throughout  the  nation  and  a  widening  of  the  breach 
between  citizens  whose  sympathies  were  running  strongly 
with  their  respective  fatherland  at  war ;  and  not  only  was 
the  prosperity  of  the  entire  nation  seriously  disturbed, 
but  the  neutrality  of  its  citizens  was  greatly  endangered. 
]\Iore  than  a  century  ago  Washington  and  Jefferson 
warned  this  country  that  dependence  upon  foreign 
nations  as  our  sea  carriers  was  a  costly  blunder,  and  so 
quickly  did  American  business  respond  to  that  warning 
that  by  1810  American  ships  were  carrying  over  90  per 
cent  of  this  country's  produce.  But  in  1910,  a  century 
later,  foreign  nations  were  carrying  more  than  90  per 
cent  of  American  trade,  while  American  vessels  were 
carrying  barely  8  per  cent.  It  was  the  Civil  War  that 
finally  destroyed  American  commerce  and  gave  to  Eng- 
land the  supremacy  of  the  seas,  and  since  that  time 
American  business  has  developed  under  Governmental 
protection.     Therefore,  it  ceased  to  seek  new  fields  of 


NEED  OF  COM^NIERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  411 

adventure  where  the  protection  of  the  Government  was 

wanting. 

Over  and  over  again  the  question  of  subsidies  to 
American  ships  was  proposed  in  Congress.  This  policy 
was  championed  by  the  Republican  party,  under  whose 
guidance  American  business  formed  the  habit  of  relying 
on  the  Government  for  protection.  But  the  Democratic 
party,  having  a  traditional  abhorrence  for  such  protec- 
tion whether  pertaining  to  the  tariff  or  to  American  built 
ships,  declared  quadrennially  in  their  platforms  against 
such  a  policy.  It  had  become  the  habit  of  one  party  to 
favor  and  the  other  to  oppose  protection,  and  a  certain 
mental  habit  was  the. result,  which  had  reached  a  fixed- 
ness so  unprogressive,  that  Congress  was  almost  unable 
to  act  on  any  great  public  question  if  the  element  of 
protection  was  discovered  to  be  lurking  somewhere  within 
its  folds.  Therefore,  nothing  was  done  to  improve  our 
merchant  marine. 

Such  a  condition  was  not  the  result  of  an  ''oversight" 
on  the  part  of  President  Wilson.  When  the  Democratic 
party  in  1912  notified  him  of  his  nomination  for  the 
Presidency,  he  called  the  attention  of  the  party  then  to 
this  great  need,  and  he  was  deeply  in  earnest  when  he 
declared  that,  "without  a  great  merchant  marine  we 
cannot  take  our  rightful  place  in  the  commerce  of  the 
world." 

^^ Merchants,''  he  said,  ''who  must  depend  upon 


j412  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  carriers  of  rival  mercantile  nations  to  carry 
their  goods  to  market  are  at  a  disadvantage  in 
mercantile  trade  too  manifest  to  need  to  be 
pointed  out;  and  our  merchants  will  not  long 
suffer  themselves — ought  not  to  suffer  them- 
selves— to  be  placed  at  such  a  disadvantage.  Our 
industries  have  expanded  to  such  a  point  that 
they  will  burst  their  jackets  if  they  cannot  find 
a  free  outlet  to  the  markets  of  the  world ;  and  they 
cannot  find  such  an  outlet  unless  they  be  given 
ships  of  their  own  to  carry  their  goods — ships  that 
will  go  the  routes  they  want  them  to  go — and 
prefer  the  interests  of  America  in  their  sailing 
orders  and  their  equipment." 

He  was  arguing  then  for  a. preparedness  that  would 
make  America  supreme  in  the  commercial  world.  But 
there  was  another  reason  why  he  urged  the  Democratic 
party  to  think  seriously  of  this  matter, 

**The  very  fact  that  we  have  at  last  taken 
the  Panama  Canal  seriously  in  hand  and  are 
vigorously  pushing  it  toward  completion  is  elo- 
quent of  our  reawakened  interest  in  international 
trade.  We  are  not  building  the  canal  and  pour- 
ing out  millions  upon  millions  upon  its  con- 
struction merely  to  establish  a  water  connec- 
tion betw^een   the   two   coasts    of   tlie   continent, 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  413 

important  and  desirable  as  that  may  be,  particu- 
larly from  the  point  of  view  of  naval  defense. 
It  is  meant  to  be  a  great  international  highway. 
It  would  be  a  little  ridiculous  if  we  should  build 
it  and  then  have  no  ships  to  send  through  it. 
There  have  been  years  when  not  a  single  ton 
of  freight  passed  through  the  great  Suez  Canal 
in  an  American  bottom,  so  empty  are  the  seas 
of  our  ships  and  seamen.  We  must  mean  to  put 
an  end  to  that  kind  of  thing  or  we  should  not 
be  cutting  a  new  canal  at  our  very  doors  merely 
for  use  of  our  men-of-war.  We  shall  not  manage 
the  revival  by  the  mere  paltry  device  of  tolls. 
AVe  must  build  and  buy  ships  in  competition  witli 
the  world.  We  can  do  it  if  we  will  but  give  our- 
selves leave." 

"When  these  words  were  uttered,  however,  they  had 
little,  if  any,  effect  upon  the  public  mind.  The  people 
were  thinking  of  the  tariff,  and  the  currency,  and  trusts, 
and  monopolies.  The  Republican  party  was  in  favor  of 
a  merchant  marine,  but  it  would  establish  it  by  means 
of  subsidies.  The  Democratic  party  was  in  favor  of  a 
merchant  marine,  but  a  part  would  have  private  indi- 
viduals spend  their  own  money  for  it,  while  another 
part  would  have  the  Government  go  into  the  business 
and  own  and  operate  vessels  of  its  own.     Thus  between 


414  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

"subsidies"  and  ''socialistic"  schemes  of  governmental 
ownership,  the  Fathers  stood  still,  and  when  the  great 
war  came,  the  advice  of  the  leading  statesmen,  from 
George  Washington  to  Woodrow  Wilson,  arose  as  a 
protest  against  the  conduct  of  political  parties  and  the 
inactivity  of  American  business;  for  a  nation  of  a  hun- 
dred million  people  was  without  ships  with  which  to 
move  its  goods,  keep  industry  alive,  and  supply  the 
homes  of  the  world  with  the  necessities  of  life. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  therefore,  immediate  action 
became  extremely  necessary.  Several  temporary  meas- 
ures that  gave  some  relief  were  passed  before  the  Long 
Congress  closed. 

The  war,  however,  had  affected  international  trade  by 
creating  demands  for  a  new  class  of  goods  which  America 
was  preeminently  prepared  to  supply.  But  the  few 
available  vessels  for  this  transatlantic  trade  were  loaded 
almost  exclusively  with  only  one  class  of  goods — war 
supplies — while  the  products  of  all  the  other  many  in- 
dustries of  America  suffered.  Even  in  times  of  peace 
America's  few  vessels  could  carry  only  a  small  per  cent 
of  our  trade.  But  now  that  America  had  become  the 
great  supply  nation  of  the  world,  a  large  part  of  the 
ships  of  the  world  were  tied  up  or  destroyed,  and  Amer- 
ica was  as  helpless  to  market  many  of  her  products  as 
Germany,  the  blockaded  nation,  was  to  receive  them. 
We  had  to  depend,  therefore,  upon  one  of  the  great 
belligerents,  Great  Britain,  to  carry  our  commerce,  and 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  415 

neutrality  was  by  no  means  so  easy  to  preserve  because 
of  this  dependence  upon  one  of  the  leading  nations  at 
war. 

So  great  was  the  need  that  the  Administration  con- 
sidered establishing  a  government-owned  steamship  cor- 
poration, and  proposed  a  bill  authorizing  the  creation 
at  once  of  a  corporation,  51  per  cent  of  whose  stock 
should  be  owned  by  the  United  States,  for  the  purchase 
and  operation  of  merchant  vessels.  It  was  proposed  that 
this  corporation  purchase  the  German  vessels  tied  up  in 
American  waters.  But  such  a  protest  was  raised  by  the 
Allies  of  Europe,  on  the  grounds  that  this  would  be 
supplying  Germany  with  funds  to  prosecute  the  war, 
that  the  idea  was  finally  abandoned.  *'It  is  one  of  the 
recognized  principles  of  international  law  that  merchant 
ships  must  not  pass  from  the  flag  of  a  belligerent  to  the 
flag  of  a  neutral,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  avoiding  risk 
or  for  evasion  of  such  inconveniences  as  are  created  by 
a  state  of  maritime  warfare. ' '  But  there  was  no  danger 
of  this  nation 's  buying  foreign  vessels.  Although  extraor- 
dinary conditions  demanded  extraordinary  measures. 
Congress  became  panicky  on  the  subject  of  a  government- 
owned  shipping  corporation,  and  adjourned  leaving  this 
question  to  be  made  the  leading  issue  when  the  next  ses- 
sion opened  in  December. 

But  how  were  the  wheat,  and  cotton,  and  corn,  and 
steel,  and  munitions  of  war,  and  a  thousand  other  articles 
to  be  shipped  to  Europe?     Our  ships  were  few  and  the 


416  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

risk  was  great.  In  the  meantime  the  cotton  planters  of 
the  South  were  receiving  seven  cents  for  their  cotton, 
stocks  and  bonds  were  not  even  rated,  and  there  was  a 
considerable  falling  off  in  the  government  revenue.  The 
Treasury  Department,  however,  was  authorized  to  create 
a  Bureau  of  Marine  Risk  Insurance  with  power  to  insure 
American  vessels  against  the  risks  of  war.  But  how  few 
American  vessels ! 

The  second  session  of  the  63rd  Congress  assembled 
December  8,  1914.  The  Members  and  Senators  had  had 
a  little  more  than  a  month  in  which  to  rest  up  from  the 
Long  Congress  and  to  think  over  the  question  of  Mer- 
chant Marine,  a  subject,  as  Mr.  Wilson  said,  "much 
talked  about  but  little  acted  upon."  Industrial  and 
commercial  demoralization  was  so  severe  that  it  was  a 
foregone  conclusion  before  the  Senators  and  Members 
returned  to  Washington  that  Mr.  Wilson  was  planning 
to  make  the  question  of  Merchant  Marine  the  important 
issue  of  the  short  session  of  Congress. 

It  was  no  surprise  to  Congress,  therefore,  when  Mr. 
Wilson  appeared  and  pushed  the  need  of  a  merchant 
marine  ahead  of  military  preparedness  and  every  other 
issue.  Senators  and  Members  remembered  the  bitter 
fight  of  the  previous  session,  and  when  he  began  speak- 
ing, "Ship  Subsidy"  looked  across  the  hall  at  "Govern- 
ment Ownership, ' '  and  each  knew  tha4:  the  President  was 
calling  the  hosts  to  battle  again  and  that  another  great 
fight  was  scheduled. 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  417 

''War  has  interrupted  not  only  the  means  of 
trade  but  also  the  processes  of  production,"  he 
said.  ''In  Europe  it  is  destroying  men  and 
resources  wholesale  and  upon  a  scale  unprece- 
dented and  appalling.  There  is  reason  to  fear 
that  the  time  is  near,  if  it  be  not  already  at 
hand,  when  several  of  the  countries  of  Europe 
will  find  it  difficult  to  do  for  their  people  what 
they  have  hitherto  been  always  easily  able  to 
do, — many  essential  and  fundamental  things.  At 
any  rate,  they  will  need  our  help  and  our  mani- 
fold services  as  they  have  never  needed  them 
before;  and  we  should  be  ready,  more  fit  and 
ready  than  we  have  ever  been. 

It  is  of  equal  consequence  that  the  nations 
whom  Europe  has  usually  supplied  with  innum- 
erable articles  of  manufacture  and  commerce  of 
which  they  are  in  constant  need  and  without 
w^iich  their  economic  development  halts  and 
stands  still,  can  now  get  only  a  small  part  of 
what  they  formerly  imported,  and  eagerly  look 
on  us  to  supply  their  all  but  empty  markets. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  our  own  neighbors, 
the  States,  great  and  small,  of  Central  and  South 
America.  Their  lines  of  trade  have  hitherto  run 
chiefly  athwart  the  seas,  not  to  our  ports  but  to 


418  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  ports  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  older  con- 
tinent of  Europe.  I  do  not  stop  to  inquire  why, 
or  to  make  any  comment  on  probable  causes. 
What  interests  us  just  now  is  not  the  explana- 
tion but  the  fact,  and  our  duty  and  opportunity 
is  in  the  presence  of  it.  Here  are  markets  which 
we  must  supply,  and  we  must  find  the  means  of 
action.  The  United  States,  this  great  people  for 
whom  we  speak  and  act,  should  be  ready,  as 
never  before,  to  serve  itself  and  to  serve  man- 
kind; ready  with  its  resources,  its  energies,  its 
forces  of  production,  and  its  means  of  distribu- 
tion. " 

He  then  told  Congress  what  each  member 
already  knew:  that  we  were  totally  unprepared 
*^to  mobilize  our  resources  at  once''  and  that  we 
were  unable  ^'to  use  them  immediately  and  at 
their  best,  without  delay  and  without  waste." 

*^To  speak  plainly,"  he  said,  ^Sve  have  greatly 
erred  in  the  way  in  which  we  have  stinted  and 
hindered  the  development  of  our  merchant  ma- 
rine. And  now  when  we  need  ships,  we  have 
not  got  them. ' ' 

The  American  people  were  helpless  victims  to  the 
rapacity  of  foreign  shipping  combines.     Therefore,  he 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  419 

was  asking  Congress  to  correct  its  mistake  of  the  past 
and  consider  the  matter  in  a  serious  light. 


**How  are  we  to  carry  our  goods  to  tlie  empty 
markets  of  which  I  have  spoken  if  we  have  not 
the  ships  r'  he  asked.  **How  are  we  to  build 
up  a  great  trade  if  we  have  not  the  certain  and 
constant  means  of  transportation  upon  which 
all  profitable  and  useful  commerce  depends?  And 
how  are  we  to  get  the  ships  if  we  wait  for  the 
trade  to  develop  without  them?  To  correct  the 
many  mistakes  by  which  we  have  discouraged  and 
all  but  destroyed  the  merchant  marine  of  the 
country,  to  retrace  the  steps  by  which  we  have, 
it  seems  almost  deliberately,  withdrawn  our  flag 
from  the  seas,  except  where,  here  and  there,  a 
ship  of  war  is  bidden  to  carry  it  or  some  wan- 
dering yacht  displays  it,  would  take  a  long  time 
and  involve  many  detailed  items  of  legislation, 
and  the  trade  which  we  ought  immediately  to 
handle  would  disappear  or  find  other  channels 
while  we  debated  the  items/' 

He  then  touched  upon  a  very  delicate  question.  He 
told  Congress  of  the  subsidies  that  had  been  voted  to 
railroads  when  we  needed  long  lines  of  railroads. 


420  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

^^We  look  upon  this  with  regret  now,  because 
the  subsidies  led  to  many  scandals,  of  which  we 
are  ashamed."  *' However,  the  roads  had  to 
be  built,"  he  said,  ''but  if  we  had  to  do  it  over 
again,  we  should  of  course  build  them,  but  in 
another  way."  And  then  he  proposed  another 
way  of  providing  means  of  transportation :  ' '  The 
pending  shipping  bill  which  was  discussed  at  the 
last  session,  but  as  yet  has  been  passed  by  neither 
house." 

''In  my  judgment,"  he  said,  "such  legislation 
is  imperatively  needed  and  cannot  wisely  be  post- 
poned. The  Government  must  open  these  gates 
of  trade,  and  open  them  wide;  open  them  before 
it  is  altogether  profitable  to  open  them,  or  alto- 
gether reasonable  to  ask  private  capital  to  open 
them  at  a  venture.  It  is  not  a  question  of  the 
Government  monopolizing  the  field.  It  should 
take  action  to  make  it  certain  that  transporta- 
tion at  reasonable  rates  will  be  promptly  pro- 
vided, even  where  the  carriage  is  not  at  first 
profitable;  and  then,  when  the  carriage  has  be- 
come sufficiently  profitable  to  attract  and  engage 
private  capital,  and  engage  it  in  abundance,  the 
Government  ought  to  withdraw.  I  very  earnestly 
hope  that  the  Congress  will  be  of  this  opinion, 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  421 

and  that  both  Houses  will  adopt  this  exceedingly 
important  bill." 

But  Congress  did  not  take  the  President's  view  point. 
Their  minds  could  not  possibly  get  away  from  "sub- 
sidies" and  ** government  ownership."  They  would 
neither  accept  the  President's  program  nor  suggest  a 
better  one.  Since  the  government-managed  idea  was  so 
objectionable,  Mr.  Wilson  modified  his  first  bill  and 
advocated  purchasing  ships  and  leasing  them  to  indi- 
viduals or  to  corporations.  He  consulted  commercial 
companies  and  captains  of  industry;  he  reasoned  with 
Congressmen  and  Senators,  and  suggested  alterations. 
The  House  acted  promptly,  but  the  Senate  was  stubborn. 
The  President  was  in  favor  of  a  bold  policy — one  that 
would  equip  this  country  with  merchant  ships.  But  they 
were  afraid  of  his  boldness. 

Soon  it  became  apparent  that  a  partisan  fight  was 
being  made  against  his  plan  to  relieve  the  congestion 
in  this  country.  There  were  rumors  afloat  that  certain 
senators  were  determined  to  defeat  his  measure  at  all 
hazards,  even  if  they  had  to  talk  it  to  death.  Not 
since  the  lobbvists  were  so  active  against  the  tariff  bill 
had  the  President  shown  so  much  feeling.  He  was  the 
guest  of  the  Jackson  Club  of  Indianapolis,  January  8, 
and  in  his  address  that  evening  he  took  the  opportunity 
to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Senators  who  were  openly 
plotting  to  defeat  the  Merchant  Marine  bill,  and,  then, 


422  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

he  restated  a  part  of  his  reasons  for  advocating  so 
strongly  the  bill  that  was  drawn  to  give  America  ade- 
quate shipping  facilities. 

**Do  you  know,  gentlemen,''  lie  said,  **that  the 
ocean  freight  rates  have  gone  up  in  some  in- 
stances to  ten  times  their  ordinary  figures,  and 
that  the  farmers  of  the  United  States,  those  who 
raise  grain  and  those  who  raise  cotton — these 
things  that  are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  world 
as  well  as  to  ourselves — cannot  get  any  profit 
out  of  the  great  prices  that  they  are  willing  to 
pay  for  these  things  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea 
because  the  whole  profit  is  eaten  up  by  the  extor- 
tionate charges  for  ocean  carriage?  The  mer- 
chants and  farmers  of  this  country  must  have 
ships  to  carry  their  goods,  and  just  at  the  present 
moment  there  is  no  way  of  getting  them  except 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Shipping 
Bin." 

However,  as  the  debate  dragged  along,  the  opposition 
was  more  determined  than  ever,  and  on  the  first  real 
test,  a  deadlock  in  the  Senate,  48  to  48,  was  the  result. 
Day  after  day  friends  of  the  measure  sought  to  break 
the  deadlock.  Immediate  relief  was  demanded  since 
Congress  would  expire  by  limitation  on  March  4.  There- 
fore, the  President  did  not  have  the  months  before  him 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  423 

in  which  to  exercise  that  patience  that  was  his  tower  of 
strength  in  the  old  fight  on  the  tariff  and  the  currency. 
The  Senate  balked,  and  again  the  vote  was  48  to  48.  Then 
the  4th  of  March  came,  and  Congress  adjourned,  having 
done  little  to  relieve  the  distress. 

Mr.  Wilson  did  not  cease  to  agitate  the  question  and 
to  inform  the  public  of  the  cause  of  much  of  the  business 
depression.  But  many  people  were  still  hostile  to  his 
policy  on  the  ground  that  it  was  ''socialistic." 

When  the  Pan-American  Conference  met  in  Wash- 
ington in  May,  1915,  the  delegates  from  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can Republics  were  welcomed  to  the  Capitol  of  the  United 
States  by  the  President.  In  his  address  he  referred  to 
the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  forming  a  great  Pan- 
American  Union. 

*^  There  is  one  thing, '*  he  said,  **tliat  stands  in 
our  way.  You  are  more  conversant  with  the  cir- 
cumstances than  I  am.  The  thing  that  I  have  in 
mind  chiefly  is  that  physical  lack  of  means  of 
communication,  the  lack  of  vehicles,  the  lack  of 
ships,  the  lack  of  established  routes  of  trade, 
the  lack  of  those  things  wdiich  are  absolutely 
necessary  if  we  are  to  have  true  commercial 
relations  with  one  another;  and  I  am  perfectly 
clear  in  my  judgment  that,  if  private  capital 
cannot  soon  enter  upon  the  adventure  of  estab- 


424  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PEESIDEXT 

lishing  these  physical  means  of  communication, 
the  Government  must  undertake  to  do  so.^* 

Again  the  press  retorted  that  Mr.  Wilson  was  urging 
his  "socialistic"  schemes  before  the  people.  However, 
what  he  said  was:  if  private  capital  cannot  bring  the 
needed  relief,  "The  Government  must  undertake  to  do 
so;"  and  he  was  talking  to  a  people  who  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  getting  American  goods  by  way  of  Liverpool. 
But  the  Senate  was  not  in  favor  of  the  Government's 
undertaking  the  job,  and  private  capital  was  yet  timid. 

By  early  summer  it  was  apparent  that  American  busi- 
ness was  becoming  bolder  than  formerly.  The  large 
demand  for  shipping  facilities  was  coaxing  some  of  the 
timid  capital  into  a  merchant  marine  and  by  July  1, 
1915,  there  were  ' '  seventy-six  steel  merchant  ships  build- 
ing in  American  ship  yards"  and  by  December  1,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  were  ordered,  "making  a  total 
tonnage  building  of  761,511."  However,  only  about  20 
per  cent  of  these  new  ships  were  for  foreign  trade,  the 
remainder  being  coast-wise  vessels. 

Many  of  these  were  built  to  take  the  place  of  old  craft 
drafted  into  foreign  trade,  while  others  were  being  con- 
structed in  a  manner  to  enable  them  to  cross  the  seas  if 
occasion  should  arise.  However,  not  all  the  vessels  under 
construction  were  for  American  ship  awners.  Many  of 
them  were  for  neutral  European  nations.  But  never 
before  had  American  ship  yards  been  so  busy.     This 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  425 

renewed  activity  was  an  argument  advanced  against  the 
administration 's  program. 

In  the  meantime  this  nation  had  suffered  in  prestige 
from  a  decline  in  commerce,  in  revenue,  in  agricultural 
profits,  and  in  industry.  Mr.  McAdoo,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  in  an  address  delivered  before  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  on  October  13,  1915, 
spoke  very  plainly  of  the  loss  to  this  country  as  a  result 
of  this  great  neglect,  or  oversight,  or  whatever  it  was 
called. 

''This  measure  (the  President's  shipping  bill)  would 
have  been  of  inestimable  service  to  the  country  had  it 
passed,''  he  said,  "because  there  was  a  superabundance 
of  purchasable  ship  tonnage  which  could  have  been 
bought  at  that  time  and  used  with  immense  benefit  to 
American  commerce  during  the  past  year. ' ' 

But,  he  declared, 

"American  business  has  paid  dearly  for  the  defeat 
of  that  measure.  I  am  sure  that  the  increased  and  extor- 
tionate freight  rates  paid  by  our  defenseless  producers 
and  shippers  in  the  past  12  months  have  exceeded  sev- 
eral times  the  $40,000,000  which  the  shipping  bill  author- 
ized the  Government  to  expend  on  merchant  vessels.  But 
this  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  injury.  Grave  losses  have 
been  sustained  by  our  business  men  because  they  could 
not  ship  at  all.  Take  lumber  and  manufacturers  of  wool 
as  an  example.  For  the  fiscal  year  1914  our  exports  of 
these  products  were,  in  round  numbers,  $99,000,000  j  for 


426  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  fiscal  year  1915  they  were,  in  round  numbers, 
$48,000,000,  a  decline  of  $51,000,000.  This  was  due 
almost  entirely  to  the  lack  of  ships  and  prohibitory  ocean 
rates. 

Take  coal  as  another  instance.  In  the  face  of  the  most 
extraordinary  demand  for  our  coal  from  Spain,  Italy, 
France,  Argentina,  and  South  America,  our  total  exports 
of  coal  for  the  fiscal  year  1915  were,  in  round  numbers, 
$56,000,000,  against  $60,000,000  for  1914— showing  a 
decline  of  $4,000,000  in  the  face  of  the  greatest  demand 
in  our  history  for  our  coal  for  foreign  consumption. 
France  alone  needs  40,000,000  tons  of  coal  the  next  year. 
We  could  supply  it  if  we  had  the  vessels.  Think  of  the 
stimulus  to  our  coal  and  lumber  industries  and  the  profit- 
able employment  it  would  give  to  labor  if  we  had  sup- 
plied the  ships  to  secure  this  foreign  trade  for  our  pro- 
ducers. I  could  multiply  instances,  but  it  is  unneces- 
sary . 

**For  the  past  year,  because  of  the  lack  of  American 
ships  and  the  scarcity  of  ocean  tonnage  generally,  ocean 
freights  in  the  Atlantic  have  been  extortionately  high. 
The  normal  rate  of  4  cents  per  bushel  for  grain  from 
New  York  to  Liverpool  has  been  increased  to  40  cents 
per  bushel.  I  do  not  have  to  argue  with  any  intelligent 
farmer  that  he  gets  less  for  his  grain  on  the  farm  when 
it  costs  40  cents  per  bushel  to  ship  it  from  New  York  to 
Liverpool  than  when  it  costs  only  4  cents  per  bushel  for 
the  same  service.    The  cotton  producer  in  the  South  has 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  427 

suffered  in  greater  degree.  Ocean  freight  rates  on  cotton 
have  gone  as  high  as  $15  per  bale  from  Galveston  to 
Europe,  as  against  $2.50  per  bale  prior  to  the  European 
war. 

''Our  farmers,  because  they  produce  the  bulk  of  our 
wealth  as  well  as  the  bulk  of  our  exports,  ought  to  be 
protected  against  extortionate  ocean  freight  rates,  and 
ought  to  have  the  assurance  of  sufficient  steamship  service 
and  reasonable  rates  to  secure  fair  treatment  and  enable 
them  at  all  times  to  compete  in  the  open  markets  with 
their  rivals  in  the  other  great  farm  producing  regions 
of  the  world." 

After  a  year  of  war  it  was  becoming  very  clear  to 
many  thoughtful  men  in  both  parties,  that,  even  if  pri- 
vate corporations  should  in  the  end  supply  the  business 
of  this  country  with  sufficient  ships  to  handle  its  foreign 
commerce,  our  shipping  problems  would  by  no  means 
be  solved.  The  war  had  taught  this  nation  one  great 
lesson;  namely,  that  either  the  government  should  own 
an  adequate  number  of  vessels,  or  should  have  such  a 
control  of  merchant  marine  companies  that  this  nation 
would  not  be  embarrassed  in  times  of  war  and  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country  could  not  be  injured  at  the  will  of 
shipping  companies.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was 
pleading  in  his  Indianapolis  address  for  a  regulation  of 
our  ocean  carriers  similar  to  that  of  our  railroads,  and 
he  cited  the  conduct  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Com- 
pany. 


428  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

"Here  is  a  company/'  he  said,  "which  has  operated 
a  service  between  San  Francisco  and  the  Orient  for  many 
years.  Our  business  men,  manufacturers,  and  producers 
have  built  up  great  trade  interests  with  the  Orient  upon 
the  faith  of  this  service.  All  of  a  sudden,  without  ade- 
quate notice,  and  with  utter  indifference  to  the  injuries 
that  might  be  done  to  shippers  and  the  interests  of  this 
country,  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  sells  its 
ships  and  announces  that  it  will  discontinue  its  service. 
Suppose  that  the  directors  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
Company  should  decide  that  they  could  make  more  money 
for  their  stockholders  by  tearing  up  the  rails  of  their 
tracks  and  selling  them,  and  their  locomotives  and  cars 
to  some  belligerent  government,  because  that  belligerent 
government  is  willing  in  time  of  war  to  pay  fabulous 
prices  therefor,  what  do  you  suppose  the  indignant  people 
along  the  line  of  this  railroad  would  do  to  the  officers 
and  directors  of  that  company?  No  common  carrier  on 
land  would  be  permitted  to  do  such  an  arbitrary  and 
injurious  thing  as  our  common  carriers  on  the  high  seas 
may  at  any  time  do  with  impunity. 

"The  Pacific  ^lail  people  claim  that  the  passage  of 
the  Seamen's  Bill  forced  them  to  discontinue  business. 
I  am  told  that  the  Seamen 's  Bill  was  not  the  mainspring 
for  the  transfer  of  the  Pacific  Mail  vessels.  The  Panama 
Canal  act,  which  denied  railroads  owning  competitive 
steamship  lines  the  right  to  operate  them  through  the 
canal,  and  the  fact  that  present  abnormal  rates  for  cargo 


NEED  OF  COM.MEKCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  429 

space  on  tlie  Atlantic,  which  made  it  possible  for  the 
Pacific  ^lail  to  sell  its  ships  at  more  than  their  real 
value,  was,  I  understand,  the  true  cause  of  their  sale." 

Mr.  McAdoo  gave  figures  to  prove  that  "weight  and 
measure  freight"  between  the  Pacific  and  the  Orient  had 
increased  200  per  cent  and  that  more  freight  was  offered 
at  even  these  figures  than  steamship  companies  could 
take.  Notwithstanding  these  conditions,  freight  was  piled 
up  at  the  ports  to  lie  there  from  "six  to  eight  months" 
because  of  the  lack  of  adequate  shipping  facilities. 

The  discussion  of  this  question  continued  all  summer 
and  fall.  Our  commercial  preparedness  was  thoroughly 
gone  into,  and  many  people  became  informed  who  had 
never  given  the  matter  any  consideration.  The  action 
of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  in  discontinuing 
its  service  created  another  issue:  Should  a  well-estab- 
lished line  be  permitted  to  alter  its  course  so  as  to  destroy 
the  business  that  had  been  built  up  as  a  result  of  the 
establishment  of  such  lines? 

The  campaign  for  military  and  naval  preparedness  had 
created  another  issue :  Should  the  American  navy  have 
ready  at  its  disposal  merchant  vessels  so  constructed  as 
to  render  essential  service  to  battleships  in  time  of  war  ? 
Mr.  McAdoo  declared  that  "  it  is  a  fact,  and  every  naval 
expert  will  so  testify,  that  a  merchant  marine  naval  auxil- 
iary is  just  as  essential  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  navy, 
considered  as  a  complete  fighting  machine,  as  the  guns 
upon  the  decks  of  our  battleships  and  the  seamen  upon 


430  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

whose  skill  and  valor  the  effectiveness  of  these  guns 
depends."  This  is  true  because  battleships  at  sea  must 
be  furnished  with  coal,  provisions,  and  supplies  of  all 
kinds.  But  in  this  country  (at  the  outbreak  of  the 
European  war)  individuals  and  corporations  com- 
bined, owned  only  about  8  per  cent  of  the  number  of 
vessels  required  to  carry  American  commerce  even  in 
times  of  peace,  to  say  nothing  of  our  extra  demand  in 
times  of  war. 

The  need  of  merchant  vessels  as  auxiliaries  to  the  bat- 
tleships and  cruisers  had  been  recognized  for  a  number 
of  years.  The  Spanish  American  War  brought  this  ques- 
tion home  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  at  a  time 
when  this  nation  met  with  many  difficulties  and  sus- 
tained considerable  financial  loss  in  securing  ships  for 
transporting  troops  to  Cuba.  This  argument  was 
brought  out  anew  in  the  discussion  of  the  problem  in  the 
summer  of  1915. 

When  the  64th  Congress  convened,  December  7,  it  was 
quite  evident  that  other  great  issues  created  or  brought 
to  the  front  by  the  war  were  intimately  related  to  the 
merchant  marine.  Military  preparedness,  commercial 
preparedness,  and  a  greater  Pan  American  Union  were 
all  dependent  upon  it.  The  new  legislative  program 
embraced  measures  that  would  require  the  greatest  wis- 
dom and  patriotism  in  order  to  adjust  them  to  the  press- 
ing needs  of  the  people. 

At  the  opening  of  Congress,  therefore,  Mr.  Wilson 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  43I 

again  urged  that  body  to  enact  an  adequate  shipping  law. 
He  had  said  that  he  would  not  hold  to  his  opinions  if  a 
better  way  for  improving  the  poor  shipping  facilities 
could  be  shown.  "But,"  he  declared,  "it  is  the  best 
way  to  do  it  until  you  show  a  better  one. ' '  And  since  no 
better  way  had  been  advanced,  the  growing  demand  for 
better  shipping  facilities  was  giving  support  to  his  con- 
tention that  the  country  needed  that  shipping  bill. 

''It  is  necessary/'  lie  said,  ''for  many  weighty 
reasons  of  national  efficiency  and  development, 
that  we  should  have  a  great  merchant  marine. 
The  great  merchant  fleet  we  once  used  to  make 
US  rich,  that  great  body  of  sturdy  sailors  who 
used  to  carry  our  flag  into  every  sea,  and  who 
were  the  pride  and  often  the  buhvark  of  the 
nation,  we  have  almost  driven  out  of  existence 
by  inexcusable  neglect  and  indifference  and  by 
a  hopelessly  blind  and  provincial  policy  of  so- 
called  economic  protection.  It  is  high  time  we 
repaired  our  mistake  and  resumed  our  commer- 
cial independence  on  the  seas. 

"For  it  is  a  question  of  independence.  If 
other  nations  go  to  war  to  seek  to  hamper  each 
other's  commerce,  our  merchants,  it  seems,  are 
at  their  mercy,  to  do  with  as  they  please.  We 
must   use    their    ships,    and    use    them    as    they 


432  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

determine.  We  have  not  ships  enough  of  our 
own.  We  cannot  handle  our  own  commerce  on 
the  seas.  Our  independence  is  provincial,  and 
it  is  only  on  land  and  within  our  own  borders. 
We  are  not  likely  to  be  permitted  to  use  even 
the  ships  of  other  nations  in  rivalry  of  their  own 
trade,  and  are  without  means  to  extend  our  com- 
merce even  where  the  doors  are  wide  open  and 
goods  desired.  Such  a  situation  is  not  to  be 
endured.  It  is  of  capital  importance  not  only 
that  the  United  States  should  be  its  own  carrier 
on  the  seas  and  enjoy  the  economic  independence 
which  only  an  adequate  merchant  marine  would 
give  it,  but  also  that  the  American  hemisphere 
as  a  whole  should  enjoy  a  like  independence  and 
self-sufficiency,  if  it  is  not  to  be  drawn  into  the 
tangle  of  European  affairs.  Without  such  inde- 
pendence the  whole  question  of  our  political  unity 
and  self-determination  is  very  seriously  clouded 
and  complicated  indeed. 

**  Moreover,  we  can  develop  no  true  or  effective 
American  policy  without  ships  of  our  own — not 
ships  of  war,  but  ships  of  peace,  carrying  goods 
and  carrying  much  more;  creating  friendships 
and  rendering  indispensable  services  to  all  inter- 
ests  on  this   side  of  the  water.     They  are  the 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  rREPAREDXESS  433 

only  shuttles  that  can  weave  the  delicate  fabric 
of  sympathy,  comprehension,  confidence,  and 
mutual  dependence  in  which  we  wish  to  clothe 
our  policy  of  America  for  Americans. 

^^The  task  of  building  up  an  adequate  mer- 
chant marine  for  America  private  capital  must 
ultimately  undertake  and  achieve,  as  it  has 
undertaken  and  achieved  every  like  task  among 
us  in  the  past  with  admirable  enterprise,  intelli- 
gence, and  vigor,  and  it  seems  to  me  a  manifest 
dictate  of  wisdom  that  we  should  promptly 
remove  every  legal  obstacle  that  may  stand  in 
the  way  of  this  much-to-be-desired  revival  of  our 
old  independence,  and  should  facilitate  in  every 
possible  way  the  building,  purchase,  and  Ameri- 
can registration  of  ships.  But  capital  cannot 
accomplish  this  task  of  a  sudden.  It  must  embark 
upon  it  by  degrees,  as  the  opportunities  of  trade 
develop. 

*^ Something  must  be  done  at  once;  done  to  open 
routes  and  develop  opportunities  where  they  are 
as  yet  undeveloped;  done  to  open  the  arteries  of 
trade  where  the  currents  have  not  learned  to 
run — especially  between  the  two  American  con- 
tinents, where  they  are,  singularly  enough,  yet 
to  be  created  and  quickened;  and  it  is  evident 


434  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  only  the  government  can  undertake  such 
beginnings  and  assume  the  initial  financial  risks. 
When  the  risk  has  passed  and  private  capital 
begins  to  find  its  way  in  sufficient  abundance  into 
these  new  channels,  the  Government  may  with- 
draw. But  it  cannot  omit  to  begin.  It  should 
take  the  first  steps,  and  should  take  them  at 
once.  Our  goods  must  not  lie  piled  up  at  our 
ports  and  stored  upon  side  tracks  in  freight 
cars  which  are  daily  needed  on  the  roads;  must 
not  be  left  without  means  of  transport  to  any  for- 
eign quarter.  We  must  not  await  the  permission 
of  foreign  shipowners  and  foreign  Governments 
to  send  them  where  we  will. 

*^With  a  view  to  meeting  these  pressing  neces- 
sities of  our  commerce  and  availing  ourselves  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment  of  the  present  unpar- 
alleled opportunity  of  linking  the  two  Americas 
together  in  bonds  of  mutual  interest  and  service, 
an  opportunity  which  may  never  return  again 
if  we  miss  it  now,  proposals  will  be  made  to  the 
present  Congress  for  the  purchase  or  construc- 
tion of  ships  to  be  owned  and  directed  by  the 
Government  similar  to  those  made  to  the  last 
Congress,  but  modified  in  some  essential  particu- 
lars.    I  recommend  these  proposals  to  you  for 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  435 

yoar  prompt  acceptance  with  the  more  confidence 
because  every  month  that  has  elapsed  since  the 
former  proposals  were  made  has  made  the  neces- 
sity for  such  action  more  and  more  manifestly 
imperative.  This  need  was  then  foreseen;  it  is 
now  acutely  felt  and  everywhere  realized  by  those 
for  whom  trade  is  waiting  but  who  can  find  no 
conveyance  for  their  goods.  I  am  not  so  much 
interested  in  the  particulars  of  the  program  as 
I  am  in  taking  immediate  advantage  of  the  great 
opportunity  which  awaits  us  if  we  will  but  act 
in  this  emergency.  In  this  matter,  as  in  all 
others,  a  spirit  of  common  counsel  should  pre- 
vail, and  out  of  it  should  come  an  early  solution 
of  this  pressing  problem.  ^^ 

The  President  was  still  concerned  for  an  immediate 
relief.  But  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country 
seemed  to  be  satisfied  with  the  progress  of  private  cor- 
porations, and  it  is  true  that  they  were  making  tre- 
mendous progress.  But  the  President's  program  em- 
braced considerably  more  than  the  mere  moving  of  piled 
up  goods  from  American  ports.  He  was  pleading  for 
a  merchant  marine  that  would  make  America  supreme 
on  the  high  seas  and  would  take  the  world  for  our  trade 
unit.  Moreover,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  hastening  the 
Pan-American   Union   and  of   making  the   trade   lines 


436  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDEXT 

strong  between  the  two  western  continents  and  he  was 
asking  for  a  merchant  marine  under  the  control  or  own- 
ership of  the  nation  that  would  establish  permanent  lines 
of  trade,  and  would  offer  at  the  same  time  a  naval  auxil- 
iary that  would  be  our  safety  in  times  of  war  between 
this  nation  and  any  other  strong  country. 

It  was  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Redfield,  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce,  that  Great  Britain  was  using  about  three 
thousand  merchant  ships  simply  as  attendants  upon  her 
own  fleet,  and  without  them  her  great  navy  would  be 
helpless.  He  estimated  that  if  we  had  to  use  our  navy 
on  the  seas  today,  about  nine  hundred  merchant  ships 
of  all  kinds  would  be  required  for  supply  service. 

In  January  Mr.  Wilson  held  repeated  conferences  with 
Senators  and  Members — with  those  who  favored  the  old 
bill,  and  then  with  those  who  opposed  it.  A  new  bill  was 
drawn  which  met  the  approval  of  many  who  had  opposed 
the  old  bill.  The  one  feature  in  the  old  bill  that  was  so 
objectionable  to  many  IMembers  and  Senators  and  that 
caused  the  deadlock  in  the  Senate  was  the  Government 
ownership  feature.  The  new  bill  so  modified  that  section 
as  to  eliminate  the  possibility  that  the  Government  might 
enter  permanently  into  the  shipping  business,  and  pro- 
vided also  that  the  naval  auxiliaries  might  be  leased  to 
shipping  companies  when  not  demanded  for  immediate 
use  of  the  navy. 

Mr.  Wilson  had  said  that  he  was  not  "so  much  inter- 
ested in  the  particulars  of  the  program  as  I  am  in  taking 


NEED  OF  COMMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  437 

immediate  advantage  of  the  great  opportunity  which 
awaits  us."  And  now  that  the  agreement  had  been 
reached,  he  insisted  that  the  bill  should  be  enacted  as 
soon  as  possible. 

So  many  things  had  to  be  done  in  order  to  project  this 
nation  forward  into  this  new  and  extraordinary  era,  and 
Congress  seemed  to  be  moving  so  slowly,  too  slowly,  for 
the  welfare  of  the  nation,  that  the  President  carried  the 
issues  to  the  people.  Military  preparedness  was  only 
one  of  the  great  problems  that  he  discussed  for  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  people.  Commercial  preparedness, 
industrial  preparedness,  educational  preparedness,  the 
need  of  a  Pan-American  Union,  and  a  new  interpretation 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine — all  were  discussed.  In  other 
words,  he  was  blazing  out  new  paths  into  the  future  and 
calling  upon  Congress  to  follow.  He  was  imperative  for 
this  nation  to  spring  forward  with  energy  and  prepare 
for  changes  which  ' '  no  one  can  certainly  foresee  or  con- 
fidently predict." 

It  was  predicted  that  the  bill  so  modified  would  be 
enacted  without  delay.  However,  the  renewal  of  the 
submarine  warfare  by  Germany,  England's  attitude  to- 
ward our  commerce,  the  preservation  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine, and  the  revolution  in  Mexico  brought  military 
preparedness  to  the  front,  and  in  spite  of  the  great 
demand  for  a  merchant  marine  it  now  had  to  take  second 
place. 

However,  President  Wilson  would  not  let  it  sleep  in 


438  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  committee  room.  During  the  month  of  March  he 
began  to  urge  the  committees  to  push  the  bill,  and  early 
in  April  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Claud  Kitchin,  the  Democratic 
Leader  of  the  House : 

*'It  would  seem  as  if  the  whole  movement  for 
our  trade  and  industry  waited  a  satisfactory  solu- 
tion of  our  problem  of  transportation.  That  is 
the  reason  why  it  seems  to  me  that  the  shipping 
bill  should  be  pressed  to  an  early  passage.'' 

Again  it  was  pointed  out  that  we  were  dependent  upon 
Great  Britain  for  the  carriage  of  the  greatest  part  of 
our  commerce;  that  we  were  paying  more  than  $300,- 
000,000  to  foreign  steamship  companies  to  carry  Ameri- 
can commerce  to  the  markets  of  the  world;  that  if  we 
were  to  press  into  service  all  the  available  merchant  ves- 
sels as  naval  auxiliaries,  we  would  still  lack  about 
500,000  tons  ^Ho  meet  the  needs  of  our  navy  as  it  stands 
today,   without   allowing   for  growth;"   that   we   were 
unable  at  present  to  seek  foreign  trade  in  new  fields 
without   relying   upon   foreign   vessels   to    carry   our 
goods ;  and  that  we  had  no  shipping  board  with  suffi- 
cient power  to  regulate  shipping  rates  and  practices 
and  establish  and  adjust  rules  of  navigation.     There- 
fore,  Congress  was  urged  to  pass  the  bill. 

Early  in  June,  after  the  Senate  and  House  had  dis- 
posed of  the  Army  Reorganization  Bill,  the  Shipping  Bill 


NEED  OF  COMIMERCIAL  PREPAREDNESS  439 

passed  the  House.  It  contained  provision  for  a  ship- 
ping board,  the  purchase  or  construction  of  vessels  suit- 
able to  the  commercial  requirements  of  the  marine  trade 
of  the  United  States,  and  ' '  for  use  as  naval  auxiliaries  or 
army  transports,  or  for  other  naval  or  military  pur- 
poses.'* 

Moreover,  it  was  provided  that  the  Board,  if  it  believes 
that  actual  operation  of  ships  by  the  Government  is 
needed,  may  form  a  corporation  with  a  capital  stock  not 
exceeding  $50,000,000,  and  the  Government  through  the 
Board  may  own  and  control  "not  less  than  a  majority" 
of  the  capital  stock. 

This  feature  defeated  the  bill  before.  But  in  order  to 
make  it  less  objectionable  and  win  the  support  of  certain 
Senators  and  Members  it  was  so  modified  as  to  limit  the 
government's  ownership  of  the  vessels  to  a  term  not 
longer  than  ''five  years  from  the  conclusion  of  the  present 
European  war." 

Congress  had  already  waited  too  long.  The  tonnage, 
owing  to  losses  by  the  war  and  the  use  of  merchant  ves- 
sels as  naval  auxiliaries,  had  been  reduced  almost  fifty 
per  cent.  There  were  not  enough  ships  available  to  carry 
the  world's  trade,  and  America  suffered  because  the 
United  States  was  the  great  supply  nation.  The  allies 
were  now  willing  for  the  United  States  to  buy  the  in- 
terned vessels  of  Germany  and  Austria.  But  those 
nations  were  not  disposed  to  sell.  It  is  said  that  freight 
was  so  high  in  the  spring  of  1916  that  ''ships  are  paying 


440  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

their  cost  in  one  voyage/*  and  the  demand  was  so  great 
that  vessels  were  selling  at  four  times  their  former  book 
value.  It  was  claimed,  furthermore,  that  every  shipyard 
in  the  world  was  booked  ahead  for  four  years.  Such  were 
the  conditions  when  the  House  a  second  time  sent  its 
Shipping  Bill  to  the  Senate. 


CHAPTER  XX 
THE  NEED  OF  INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS 

The  one  distinct  purpose  that  President  Wilson  had 
at  the  beginning  of  his  administration  was  *'to  set  the 
business  of  the  country  free — hence  the  new  tariff,  the 
Federal  Reserve  Act,  the  Anti-Trust  Laws  and  Govern- 
ment regulation  of  business  by  Commission.  But  when 
this  great  program  was  begun  the  world  was  at  peace, 
and  the  needful  thing  to  be  done  was  to  restore  the  rule 
of  right  and  justice  in  the  nation.  However,  eighteen 
months  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war  America  had  be- 
come first  as  the  supply  nation  of  the  world,  a  new  era 
was  at  hand,  and  President  Wilson  declared  that  "our 
thought  is  now  inevitably  of  new  things  about  which 
formerly  we  gave  ourselves  little  concern.  We  are  now 
thinking  chiefly  of  our  relations  with  the  rest  of  the 
world." 

American  business,  however,  had  not  yet  formed  the 
concept  of  the  world  as  a  trade  unit.  That  was  perhaps 
due,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  fact  that  America  is  a  young 
nation,  and  our  resources  are  so  vast,  that  from  the  time 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  to  the  present  our 
business  men  have  been  engaged  in  developing  the  re- 

441 


442  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PEESIDENT 

sources  at  hand,  rather  than  in  seeking  new  fields  abroad. 
The  great  combinations  and  corporations  that  the  people 
complained  of  drew  their  wealth  from  exploiting  the 
resources  of  this  continent  for  the  use  of  a  comparatively 
few  individuals.  No  other  nation  produced  so  much 
per  capita  w^ealth  within  its  own  borders. 

It  is  well  known  today  that  Great  Britain  is  mistress 
of  the  seas  and  her  industries  touch  every  nation  of  every 
continent  of  the  globe.  But  England's  land  has  been  in 
the  hands  of  enlightened  people  for  many  centuries.  The 
territory  of  England  and  Wales  is  about  the  size  of  North 
Carolina  but  her  population  is  about  40,000,000,  or  nearly 
one-half  the  population  of  Continental  United  States.  It 
was  necessary  for  other  countries  to  furnish  resources  for 
the  inhabitants  of  England  to  develop.  Such  conditions 
made  the  Englishman  cosmopolitan  commercially.  How- 
ever, the  United  States  had  more  resources  than  her  own 
inhabitants  could  develop  within  a  century.  There  was 
no  necessity  apparently  for  Americans  to  seek  oppor- 
tunities  in  other  lands.  Therefore,  Americans,  with 
a  few  exceptions,  became  provincial  commercially. 

Notwithstanding  these  facts  our  business  men  have 
been  short  sighted.  The  lack  of  a  merchant  marine  was 
a  striking  evidence  of  our  short-sightedness,  and  the  neg- 
lect of  our  bankers  to  establish  banks  in  foreign  countries 
to  meet  the  demands  of  an  international  currency  or 
foreign  exchange  was  a  proof  of  our  provincialism. 
Therefore,  it  was  not  enough  to  set  business  free  in  the 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  443 

nation.  It  was  necessary  to  project  it  forward  in  the 
world  so  that  it  might  lose  its  provincialism,  that  it  might 
have  a  better  perspective,  and  that  it  might  be  able  to 
form  the  necessary  concept  of  the  world  as  our  trade  unit. 
For  this  great  opportunity  American  business  needed  to 
find  its  second  wind. 

Even  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  great  indus- 
trial organizations,  instead  of  keeping  large  numbers  of 
paid  lobbyists  at  the  door  of  Congress  as  of  old,  were 
learning  to  go  openly  and  direct  to  the  White  House  for 
advice.  The  safest  way  to  the  heart  of  Congress  was 
found  to  be  through  the  White  House. 

Moreover,  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  the  large 
industrial  organizations  seemed  to  have  adopted  the 
policy  of  meeting  in  Washington  in  order  to  have  the 
counsel  of  the  Administration.  Every  phase  of  our  indus- 
trial life  felt  the  need  of  sympathy  and  the  moral  sup- 
port of  the  people.  How  to  mobilize  our  resources  for 
this  new  opportunity  was  the  great  problem. 

The  American  Electric  Railway  Association  met  in 
Washington,  January  29,  1915;  President  Wilson  was 
its  guest  and  he  assured  its  members  that  *'we  are  upon 
the  eve  of  a  new  era  of  enterprise  and  prosperity." 
Although  subsequent  events  have  proved  that  the  Presi- 
dent knew  what  he  was  talking  about,  captains  of  in- 
dustry shook  their  heads,  and  the  press  in  many  sections 
of  the  country  asked  to  be  shown  the  proof  of  his  state- 
ment.   Many  men  besides  the  President,  however,  were 


444  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

aware  of  this  fact,  that  unless  the  business  of  the  country- 
could  get  more  life  and  courage  into  it,  the  European 
war  would  really  be  disastrous  to  America.  The  Presi- 
dent, therefore,  took  this  opportunity  to  arouse  the  busi- 
ness men  of  the  nation : 

*' Enterprise,"  he  declared,  '^has  been  checked 
in  this  country  for  almost  twenty  years,  because 
men  were  moving  among  a  maze  of  interrogation 
points.  They  did  not  know  what  was  going  to 
happen  to  them.  All  sorts  of  regulations  were 
proposed,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  uncertainty 
what  sort  of  regulation  was  going  to  be  adopted." 

He  then  directed  the  attention  of  the  business  men  of 
the  country  to  the  future  and  to  the  pressing  needs  grow- 
ing out  of  the  war.  He  urged  them  to  go  forward. 
** Nobody  henceforth,"  he  said,  ''will  be  afraid  of  or 
suspicious  of  any  business  merely  because  it  is  big." 
The  new  Anti-trust  laws  had  marked  out  the  way  for 
business  and  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  stood  ever 
ready  to  point  out  the  pitfalls,  and  there  was  no  reason 
why  **the  mists  and  miasmic  airs  of  suspicion  that  have 
filled  the  business  world  have  not  been  blown  away." 

Moreover,  he  assured  the  people  of  this  country  that 
no  individual  or  enterprise  is  going  *'to  be  barred  from 
the  contest"  because  it  is  big  and  strong  and  no  one  is 
*  *  going  to  be  penalized  because  you  are  big  and  strong. ' ' 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  445 

President  Wilson  believed  that  American  business 
should  take  the  world  for  its  parish  and  that  the  directors 
of  American  business  should  take  courage  and  launch 
forward  into  these  many  new  fields.  He  was  greatly  con- 
cerned now  over  dispelling  all  suspicions,  and  this  ad- 
dress had  considerable  effect.  Although  it  contained 
little  that  Avas  new,  it  was  now  delivered  at  the  psycho- 
logical moment.  It  was  what  business  men  wanted  to 
hear,  for  they  wanted  to  launch  forward  now  as  much 
as  they  did  not  want  to  when  the  anti-trust  bills  were 
before  the  Congress. 

A  new  temper  seemed  to  be  noticeable  everywhere. 
There  was  a  return  of  business  activity.  The  war  orders 
were  giving  new  life  to  trade,  and  America  was  just 
beginning  to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  conditions  and  to 
look  to  the  future.  The  President's  words,  therefore, 
were  encouraging. 

While  this  address  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  another  great  business  carried  its  National  Asso- 
ciation to  Washington.  This  was  the  United  States 
Chamber  of  Commerce  which  assembled  at  the  Capitol  on 
February  3.  The  President  was  its  guest  likewise,  and 
he  had  reserved  for  that  occasion  a  declaration  which 
was  in  some  respects  more  important,  perhaps,  than  any 
other  that  he  had  delivered.  Just  before  the  outbreak  of 
the  European  war  he  stood  in  Independence  Hall, 
Philadelphia,  and  declared  that  ''liberty  does  not 
consist  in  mere  general  declarations  of  the  rights  of 


446  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

man.  It  consists  in  the  translation  of  these  declarations 
into  definite  action."  And  in  this  address  he  gave  a 
liberal  translation  of  former  declarations  meet  for 
present  action.  The  times  demanded  it,  and  his  patrio- 
tism prompted  it.  After  discussing  the  many  ways  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  aiding  and 
could  aid  the  people,  he  drove  straight  to  the  mark 
and  literally  astonished  the  industrial  world  and  the 
entire  nation  by  his  frank  utterances,  coming  as  they 
did  so  soon  after  the  passage  of  the  anti-trust  laws. 

**  There  is  a  specific  matter  about  which  I,  for 
one,  want  your  advice,''  he  began.  *^Let  me  say, 
if  I  may  say  it  without  disrespect,  that  I  do  not 
think  you  are  prepared  to  give  it  right  away. 
You  will  have  to  make  some  rather  extended 
inquiries  before  you  are  ready  to  give  it. 

**What  I  am  thinking  of  is  competition  in  for- 
eign markets  as  between  the  merchants  of  dif- 
ferent nations.  I  speak  of  the  subject  with  a 
certain  degree  of  hesitation,  because  the  thing 
farthest  from  my  thought  is  taking  advantage 
of  nations  now  disabled  from  playing  their  full 
part  in  that  competition  and  seeking  a  sudden 
selfish  advantage  because  they  are  for  the  time 
being  disabled.  Pray,  believe  me,  that  we  ought 
to   eliminate   all   that  thought   from   our  minds 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  447 

and  consider  this  matter  as  if  we  and  the  other 
nations  were  in  the  normal  circumstances  of 
commerce. ' ' 

The  anti-trust  laws  had  one  great  purpose — to  destroy 
monopoly  in  America  and  restore  competition.  However, 
when  American  business  began  to  wake  up  to  the  pos- 
sibilities of  foreign  trade,  it  was  discovered  that  the 
anti-trust  laws  in  providing  for  competition  at  home, 
seemed  to  make  it  impossible  for  American  business  to 
combine  and  compete  with  foreign  business.  This  was 
the  point  that  the  President  was  coming  to  in  his 
address. 

*^  There  is  a  normal  circumstance  of  com- 
merce,'^ he  said,  *4n  which  we  are  apparently  at 
a  disadvantage.  Our  anti-trust  laws  apparently — 
I  say  apparently,  because  I  see  the  Attorney 
General  is  present,  and  I  am  not  sure  I  am 
right — the  anti-trust  laws  of  the  United  States 
apparently  make  it  illegal  for  merchants  in  the 
United  States  to  form  combinations  for  the  pur- 
pose of  strengthening  themselves  in  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  opportunities  of  foreign  compe- 
tition. 

^'That  is  a  very  serious  matter,  for  this 
reason:     There  are  some  corporations,  and  some 


448  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

firms  for  all  I  know,  whose  business  is  great 
enough  and  whose  resources  are  abundant  enough 
to  enable  them  to  establish  selling  agencies  in 
foreign  countries,  to  enable  them  to  extend  the 
long  credits  which  in  some  cases  are  necessary  in 
order  to  keep  the  trade  they  desire ;  which  enables 
them  in  other  words,  to  organize  their  business 
in  foreign  territory  in  a  way  which  the  smaller 
man  cannot  afford  to  do.  His  business  has  not 
grown  big  enough  to  permit  him  to  establish 
selling  agencies.  The  export  commission  mer- 
chants, perhaps,  tax  him  a  little  too  high  to  make 
that  an  available  competitive  means  of  conducting 
and  extending  his  business. 

*^The  question  arises,  therefore,  how  are  the 
smaller  merchants,  how  are  the  younger  and 
weaker  corporations,  going  to  get  a  foothold  as 
against  the  combinations  w^hich  are  permitted  and 
even  encouraged  by  foreign  governments  in  this 
very  field  of  competition?  There  are  govern- 
ments which,  as  you  know,  distinctly  encourage 
the  formation  of  great  combinations  in  any 
particular  field  of  commerce  in  order  to  maintain 
selling  agencies  and  to  extend  long  credits  and 
to  use  and  maintain  the  machinery  which  is 
necessary  for  the  extension  of  business. 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  449 

**  American  mercliaiits  feel  that  they  are  at  a 
very  considerable  disadvantage  in  contending 
against  that.  The  matter  has  been  many  times 
brought  to  my  attention,  and  I  have  each  time 
suspended  judgment,  because  in  this  matter  ^I 
am  from  Missouri, '  and  I  want  to  be  shown  this : 
I  want  to  be  shown  how  that  combination  can 
be  made  and  conducted  in  a  way  which  won't 
close  it  against  the  use  of  everybody  who  wants 
to  use  it.  A  combination  has  a  tendency  to 
exclude  new  members. 

^'When  a  group  of  men  get  control  of  a  good 
thing,  they  do  not  see  any  particular  point  in 
letting  other  people  into  the  good  thing.  What 
I  should  like  very  much  to  be  shown,  therefore, 
is  a  method  of  cooperation  which  is  not  a 
method  of  combination — not  that  the  two  words 
are  mutually  exclusive,  but  we  have  come  to  have 
a  special  meaning  attached  to  the  word  ^com- 
bination.' Most  of  our  combinations  have  a 
safety  lock,  and  you  have  to  get  the  combination 
to  get  in.  I  want  to  know  how  these  cooperative 
methods  can  be  adopted  for  the  benefit  of  every- 
body who  w^ants  to  use  them,  and  I  say  frankly, 
if  I  can  be  shown  that,  I  am  for  them.  If  I 
cannot  be  shown  that,  and  I  hasten  to  add  that  I 


450  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PEESIDENT 

hope — fully  expect — that  I  can  be  shown  that,  I 
am  against  them.  You,  as  I  have  just  now 
intimated,  probably  cannot  show  it  to  me  off  hand, 
but,  by  the  method  that  you  have  the  means  of 
using,  you  certainly  ought  to  be  able  to  throw 
a  vast  deal  of  light  upon  it.'' 

The  President  very  frankly  told  the  business  men  of 
the  nation  that  ''our  anti-trust  laws  apparently"  place 
our  merchants  at  a  disadvantage  in  competing  with 
European  business  in  foreign  fields.  Merchants  had  dis- 
cussed the  matter  many  times  with  him,  and  he  was 
aware  of  the  fact  that  business  men  really  felt  that  they 
were  ''at  a  very  considerable  disadvantage." 

The  foreign  business  of  all  nations  has  been  practically 
made  over  within  the  past  two  decades,  during  which 
time  American  business  has  been  in  sharp  conflict  with 
the  American  government,  not  with  foreign  business, 
and  many  men  had  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  con- 
flict (sometimes  it  was  called  persecution)  was  due  to 
the  government 's  fear  of  the  size  of  business  rather  than 
to  the  methods  of  business.  But  when  the  European 
war  threw  the  burden  of  the  world  ^s  business  on  the 
shoulders  of  Americans,  it  was  readily  seen  that  our 
domestic  policy  was  insufficient,  and  that  the  old  laws 
must  be  modified  so  that  American  shoulders  could  bear 
the  burden.  Either  this,  or  we  must  remain  provincials. 
If  necessary,  the  tariff  laws  and  the  anti-trust  laws  should 


INDUSTE.IAL  PREPAREDNESS  45I 

be  so  amended  aB  to  make  it  possible  for  American  busi- 
ness to  compete  with  foreign  business,  not  merely  to 
cover  the  period  of  the  present  great  war,  but  especially 
to  be  prepared  to  do  at  least  the  part  of  a  great  nation 
in  the  world's  business  at  the  close  of  the  war.  The 
anti-trust  laws  that  were  framed  to  restore  competition 
in  America  were  needful.  But  they  must  now  be  so 
shaped  that  America  could  compete  fairly  with  the 
re^t  of  the  world. 

When  this  address  was  delivered,  President  Wilson  was 
completing  the  first  half  of  his  administration.  We  were 
then  in  the  midst  of  world  affairs  of  such  magnitude  that 
old  rules  wereiinadequate  and  new  adjustments  were  very 
necessary,  and  he  was  declaring  that  he  was  willing  to 
start  any  readjustments  if  he  could  be  shown  the  right 
way.  It  fired  his  patriotism  to  think  of  Americans  lead- 
ing in  the  world's  business,  and  he  became  impatient 
when  he  beheld  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  indifference 
of  Americans  to  the  great  opportunity. 

The  63d  Congress  came  to  a  close  on  March  4,  1915. 
Military  preparedness,  commercial  preparedness  and 
industrial  preparedness  were  the  great  issues  that  were 
coming  before  the  nation.  But  there  was  to  be  no  more 
legislation  for  nine  months.  Meanwhile,  the  industrial 
life  was  on  the  rebound.  An  unusual  buoyancy  was 
noticeable  everywhere.  The  Department  of  Com^ 
merce  w^as  maintaining  traveling  specialists  abroad 
to    study    foreign    tariffs    and    foreign    trade,    and 


452  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Mr.  Redfield,  the  Secretary  of  Commerce,  work- 
ing ill  cooperation  with  commercial  organizations 
in  America,  was  seeking  to  direct  American  busi- 
ness into  foreign  fields.  HoAvever,  he  learned 
what  Mr.  Wilson  had  feared,  that  "the  present  law 
plays  into  the  hands  of  the  larger  concerns  and  shuts 
out  smaller  ones  from  important  markets ' '  and  ]\Ir.  Red- 
field  advised  that  ''provisions  should  be  made  whereby 
such  concerns  may,  with  due  safeguards  against 
monopoly,  cooperate  in  the  foreign  field.  To  refuse  this 
for  fear  of  monopoly  is  to  say  that  the  larger  concerns 
shall  alone  hold  the  lucrative  foreign  markets  and  that 
the  far  larger  number  of  smaller  houses  shall  be  shut 
out."  Moreover,  it  was  a  growing  conviction  that  even 
the  large  concerns  would  not  be  able  to  compete  suc- 
cessfully with  European  business  unless  the  laws  of 
America  were  so  modified  as  to  place  American  business 
on  an  equal  footing  with  European  business. 

America  now  had  little  competition,  to  speak  of,  and 
the  volume  of  American  foreign  business  was  limited  to 
the  capacity  of  the  carrying  vessels  of  the  seas.  But 
when  peace  should  come,  and  the  war  orders  were  all 
stopped,  and  the  nations  of  Europe  should  re-enter  the 
world's  commerce  with  their  advantageous  laws  to  aid 
them,  the  President  and  the  business  men  of  this  nation 
felt  that  America  should  be  prepared  for  the  emergency. 
Therefore,  industrial  preparedness  had  become  a  real 
issue  when  the  64th  Congress  convened  on  December  7, 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  453 

1915.  President  Wilson,  then,  very  frankly  told  Con- 
"•ress  that  the  time  had  come  for  America  to  mobilize 
her  resources. 

'^Wliile  we  speak  of  th«e  preparation  of  the 
nation  to  make  sure  of  her  security  and  her 
effective  power,''  lie  said,  *'we  must  not  fall  into 
the  patent  error  that  her  real  strength  comes 
from  armaments  and  mere  safeguards  of  written 
law.  It  comes,  of  course,  from  her  people,  their 
energy,  their  success  in  their  undertakings,  their 
free  opportunity  to  use  the  natural  resources  of 
our  great  home  land  and  of  the  lands  outside 
our  continental  borders  which  look  to  us  for 
protection,  for  encouragement,  and  for  assist- 
ance in  their  development;  from  the  organiza- 
tion and  freedom  and  vitality  of  our  domestic 
life.  The  domestic  questions  which  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  last  Congress  are  more  vital 
to  the  nation  in  this  its  time  of  test  than  at  any 
other  time.  We  cannot  adequately  make  ready 
for  any  trial  of  our  strength  unless  we  wisely 
and  promptly  direct  the  force  of  our  laws  into 
these  all-important  fields  of  domestic  action.  A 
matter  which  it  seems  to  me  we  should  have  very 
much  at  heart  is  the  creation  of  the  right  instru- 


454  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

mentalities  by  which  to  mobilize   our  economic 
resources  in  any  time  of  national  necessity." 

He  then  spoke  of  his  authority  to  ' '  call  into  systematic 
consultation"  men  of  recognized  leadership  to  bring 
about  prompt  cooperation  of  manufacturers  and  those 
who  possess  technical  skill  in  order  to  aid  the  Government 
in  the  solution  of  particular  problems  of  defense.  But 
he  added : 

**What  is  more  important  is,  that  the  industries 
and  resources  of  the  country  should  be  available 
and  ready  for  mobilization.  It  is  the  more  im- 
peratively necessary,  therefore,  that  we  should 
promptly  devise  means  for  doing  what  we  have 
not  yet  done:  that  we  should  give  intelligent 
federal  aid  and  stimulation  to  industrial  voca- 
tional education,  as  we  have  long  done  in  the 
large  field  of  our  agricultural  industry;  that,  at 
the  same  time  that  we  safeguard  and  conserve 
the  natural  resources  of  the  country  we  should 
put  them  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  will  use 
them  promptly  and  intelligently,  as  was  sought 
to  be  done  in  the  admirable  bills  submitted  to  the 
last  Congress  from  its  committees  on  the  public 
lands,  bills  which  I  earnestly  recommend  in  prin- 
ciple to  your  consideration;  that  we  should  put 


IXDUSTKIAL  PREPAREDNESS  455 

into  early  operation  some  provision  for  rural 
credits  which  will  add  to  the  extensive  borrow- 
ing facilities  already  afforded  the  farmer  by  the 
Keserve  Bank  Act,  adequate  instrumentalities  by 
which  long  credits  may  be  obtained  on  land  mort- 
c-afi-es;  and  that  we  should  study  more  carefully 
than  they  have  hitherto  been  studied  the  right 
adaptation  of  our  economic  arrangements  to 
changing  conditions. 

*'Many  conditions  about  which  we  have  repeat- 
edly legislated  are  being  altered  from  decade  to 
decade,  it  is  evident,  under  our  very  eyes,  and 
are  likely  to  change  even  more  radically  and  more 
rapidly  in  the  days  immediately  ahead  of  us, 
when  peace  has  returned  to  the  world  and  the 
nations  of  Europe  once  more  take  up  their  tasks 
of  commerce  and  industry  with  the  energy  of 
those  who  must  bestir  themselves  to  build  anew. 
Just  what  these  changes  will  be  no  one  can  cer- 
tainly foresee  or  confidently  predict.  There  are 
no  calculable,  because  no  stable,  elements  in 
the  problem.  The  most  we  can  do  is  to  make 
certain  that  we  have  the  necessary  instrumentali- 
ties of  information  constantly  at  our  service  so 
that  we  may  be  sure  that  we  know  exactly  what 
we  are  dealing  with  when  we  come  to  act,  if  it 


456  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

should  be  necessary  to  act  at  all.  We  must  first 
certainly  know  what  it  is  that  we  are  seeking  to 
adapt  ourselves  to." 

America  was  so  affected  by  the  war  that  it  was  exceed- 
ingly difficult  for  the  people  of  this  nation  to  take  a  clear 
perspective  of  any  important  policy.  Business  was  full 
of  energy,  but  it  seemed  to  be  unable  to  project  itself  in 
mediae  res.  Apparently  it  was  content  to  handle  the 
business  that  came  to  our  shores;  and,  to  be  sure,  that 
was  enormous.  At  the  same  time  the  conditions  pre- 
sented a  gloomy  outlook  to  those  who  were  students  of 
economic  forces.  Our  balance  of  trade  was  enormous. 
But  even  a  balance  of  trade  might  be  an  evil.  Moreover, 
the  nation  was  making  little  preparation  to  protect  our 
markets  against  a  fierce  foreign  competition  at  the  end 
of  the  war,  and  business  was  slow  to  venture  from  our 
shores.  This  gloomy  outlook  caused  the  President,  there- 
fore, to  take  the  whole  matter  to  the  people.  A  few  days 
after  he  delivered  the  above  message  to  Congress,  he  was 
the  guest  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Columbus, 
Ohio  (December  10)  and,  there,  he  spoke,  again,  some 
very  plain  words  to  the  business  men  of  America. 

He  referred  briefly  to  the  history  of  American 
commerce  and  then  said:  *^We  seem  deliber- 
ately to  have  chosen  to  be  provincial,  to  shut  our- 
selves   in   upon    ourselves,    to    exploit    our    own 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  457 

resources  for  our  o^\^l  benefit  rather  than  for 
the  benefit  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  we  did 
not  return  to  address  ourselves  to  foreign  com- 
merce until  our  domestic  development  had  so 
nearly  burst  its  jacket  that  there  was  no  straight- 
jacket  in  which  it  could  be  confined.'* 

Then  he  spoke  of  the  crying  need  for  an  outlet  into 
the  currents  of  the  world.  But  he  said  there  was  some- 
thing more  to  be  done  than  to  modify  the  anti-trust  laws. 
American  business  must  have  a  new  spirit.  It  must  lose 
its  provincialism. 

'^ Until  the  recent  banking  act/'  he  said,  ^*you 
could  not  find,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  a  branch 
of  an  American  bank  anywhere  outside  of  the 
United  States,  whereas  other  nations  of  the  world 
were  doing  their  banking  business  on  foreign 
shores  through  the  instrumentality  of  their  own 
bankers.  I  was  told  at  a  meeting  of  the  American 
Bankers  Association  that  much  of  the  foreign 
banking  business,  the  business  in  foreign  ex- 
change, had  to  be  done  in  our  ports  by  branches 
of  Canadian  banks  established  among  ourselves. 
Being  literalists,  we  interpreted  the  national 
banking  act  to  mean,  since  it  did  not  say  that 
the  national  banks  could  engage  in  this  business, 


458  WOODROW  WILSOX  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  they  could  not  engage  in  it,  and  some  of  the 
natural,  some  of  the  necessary  functions  of  bank- 
ing were  not  performed  by  American  bankers. 

**I  refer  to  this  merely  as  an  evidence  of  what 
I  take  to  call  our  provincialism.  Moreover,  dur- 
ing this  period  this  very  interesting  thing  has 
happened,  that  American  business  men  were  so 
interested  to  be  protected  against  the  competition 
of  other  business  men  in  other  countries  that 
they  proceeded  by  organization  to  protect  them- 
selves against  each  other  and  engaged  in  the 
politics  of  organization  rather  than  in  the  states- 
manship of  enterprise." 

He  then  spoke  of  the  value  of  organization  in  business. 
But  he  said  that  the  only  legitimate  object  of  organiza- 
tion is  efficiency.  Any  other  makes  it  illegal.  He  then 
directed  the  attention  of  his  hearers  to  the  future. 

**It  looks  as  if  we  would  be  the  reserve  force 
of  the  world,''  he  said,  ^4n  respect  to  financial 
and  economic  power.  It  looks  as  if  in  the  days 
of  reconstruction  and  recuperation  which  are 
ahead  of  Europe  we  would  have  to  do  many  of 
the  things,  many  of  the  most  important  things 
which  have  hitherto  been  done  through  European 
instrumentalities.      No   man    can   say   just   how 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  459 

these  matters  are  going  to  shape  themselves, 
but  every  man  can  see  that  the  opportunity  of 
America  is  going  to  be  unparalleled  and  that  the 
resources  of  America  must  be  put  at  the  service 
of  the  world  as  they  were  never  put  at  its  service 

before. 

*' Therefore,  it  is  imperative  that  no  impedi- 
ments should  be  put  in  the  way  of  commerce 
with  the  rest  of  the  world.  You  cannot  sell  unless 
you  buy.  Commerce  is  only  an  exalted  kind  of 
barter.  The  bartering  may  not  be  direct,  but 
directly  or  indirectly  it  is  an  exchange  of  com- 
modities and  the  payment  of  the  balances;  and, 
therefore,  there  must  be  no  impediments  to  the 
free  flow  of  the  currents  of  commerce  back  and 
forth  between  the  United  States,  upon  which 
the  world  will  in  part  depend,  and  the  other 
countries  which  she  must  supply  and  serve." 

It  might  be  necessary  to  modify  the  anti-trust  laws 
and  it  might  be  wise  to  establish  a  tariff  board.  But 
whatever  step  was  necessary,  he  wanted  this  nation  to 
take  it.  However,  it  did  have  one  instrumentality  in 
the  new  banking  law  ''such  as  this  has  never  had  before 
for  the  ebb  and  flow  and  free  course  of  the  national 
process  of  credit."  And  he  added  ''for  the  first  time 
we  are  not  bound  up  in  an  inelastic  currency.    Our  credit 


460  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

is  current  and  that  current  will  run  through  all  the  chan- 
nels of  commerce  in  every  part  of  the  world. 


if 


^^  America  now  may  take  peaceful  conquest  of 
the  world/'  he  concluded,  ^*and  I  say  that  with 
all  the  greater  confidence,  gentlemen,  because  I 
believe,  and  hope  that  the  belief  does  not  spring 
merely  from  hope,  that  when  the  present  great 
conflict  in  Europe  is  over,  the  world  is  going 
to  wear  a  different  aspect.  I  do  not  believe  that 
there  is  going  to  be  any  patched-up  peace.  I 
believe  that  thoughtful  men  of  every  country  and 
of  every  sort  will  insist  that,  when  we  get  peace 
again,  we  shall  have  guarantees  that  it  will 
remain,  and  that  the  instrumentalities  of  justice 
will  be  exalted  above  the  instrumentalities  of 
force.  I  believe  that  the  spirit  which  has  hitherto 
reigned  in  the  hearts  of  Americans  and  in  like 
people  everywhere  in  the  world,  will  assert  itself 
once  for  all  in  international  affairs,  and  that  if 
America  preserves  her  poise,  preserves  her  self- 
possession,  preserves  her  attitude  of  friendliness 
toward  all  the  w^orld,  she  may  have  the  privilege, 
whether  in  one  form  or  another,  of  being  the 
mediating  influence  by  which  these  things  may 
be  induced. 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  461 

**I  am  not  now  speaking  of  governmental 
mediation.  I  haven't  it  in  mind  at  all.  I  mean 
the  spiritual  mediation.  I  mean  the  recognition 
of  the  world  that  here  is  a  country  that  has 
always  w^anted  things  done  that  way,  and  whose 
merchants,  when  they  cany  their  goods,  will 
carry  their  ideas  along  w^ith  them,  and  that 
this  spirit  of  give  and  take,  this  spirit  of  success, 
only  by  having  better  goods  and  better  brains 
and  better  training  will,  through  their  influences, 
spread  the  more  rapidly  to  the  ends  of  the  world. 
This  is  what  I  mean  by  the  mediating  influence 
that  I  think  American  commerce  will  exert. 

^'So  I  challenge  you,  and  men  throughout  the 
United  States  like  you,  to  apply  your  minds  to 
your  business  as  if  you  were  building  up  for 
the  world  a  great  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  as  if  you  were  going  out  in  the  spirit 
of  the  service  and  achievement — the  kind  or 
achievement  that  comes  only  through  service, 
the  kind  of  achievement  which  is  statesmanship, 
the  statesmanship  of  those  arrangements  which 
are  most  serviceable  to  the  world. 

"As  you  do  this,  the  American  spirit,  whether 
it  be  labeled  so  or  not,  will  have  its  conquest 
far  and  w^ide,  and  when  we  come  back  from  our 


462  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

long  voyage  of  trade,  we  will  not  feel  tliat  we 
have  left  strangers  behind  ns,  but  that  we  have 
left  friends  behind  ns,  and  come  back  home  to 
sit  by  the  fireside  and  speak  of  the  common  kin- 
ship of  all  mankind/' 

This  was  the  President's  ''vision  of  a  democracy." 
But  in  the  long  journey  from  the  simple  life  of  provincial 
traders  to  the  realization  of  the  vision  of  a  peaceful  con- 
quest of  the  world,  an  intelligent  beginning  had  to  be 
made. 

The  64th  Congress  had  convened.  But  military  pre- 
paredness and  commercial  preparedness  were  the  two 
great  problems  to  be  solved  first.  The  European  war  was 
bringing  in  an  era  of  new  opportunities  for  American 
business  with  possibilities  so  vast  that  old  domestic  rules 
and  old  provincial  habits  were  wholly  inadequate.  Under 
the  pressure  of  these  new  forces,  the  President  had  asked 
the  members  of  a  great  business  organization  to  give  him 
more  light  on  the  subject  of  domestic  and  foreign  busi- 
ness. Moreover,  he  was  pressing  Congress  to  pass  the 
Rural  Credit  Bill  which  had  been  considered  in  one 
form  or  another  since  the  Federal  Reserve  Bill  was 
before  Congress.  The  new  era  demanded  that  the 
agricultural  forces  should  be  prepared  to  mobilize  their 
resources,  and  the  bill  was  framed  to  give  them  relief 
and  set  them  forward. 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  463 

By   January,   1916,   it   was   apparent  that   a   great 
economic  revolution  was  going  on  in  the  world. 

^^No  man  understands  that  revolution,"  he  de- 
clared. ^'No  man  has  the  elements  of  it  clearly 
in  his  mind.  No  part  of  the  business  of  legisla- 
tion with  regard  to  international  trade  can  be 
undertaken  until  we  do  understand  it.  And  mem- 
bers of  Congress  are  too  busy,  their  duties  are 
too  multifarious  and  distracting  to  make  it  pos- 
sible within  a  sufficiently  short  space  of  time  for 
them  to  mark  the  change  that  is  coming.'' 

It  had  become  quite  clear  to  him,  therefore,  that  the 
government  should  create  a  board  whose  sole  business 
would  be  ' '  to  provide  the  Government  with  the  necessary 
data  to  furnish  a  sound  basis  for  the  policy  which  should 
be  pursued  m  the  years  immediately  ahead  of  us." 
Industrial  preparedness  was  being  discussed  through- 
out the  nation.  Therefore,  on  January  24,  1916,  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  Claude  Kitchin,  chairman  of  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
a  long  letter  in  which  he  gave  his  views  on  the  matter, 
and  made  some  recommendations  for  Congress  to 
consider. 

*'In  common,  I  dare  say,  with  every  one  who 
wishes  to  be  thouo'htful  of  the  future  economic 


464  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

prosperity  and  development  of  the  country/'  the 
letter  began,  ^^I  have  been  thinking  a  great  deal 
recently  about  what  it  would  be  wise  to  do  to 
provide  the  Government  with  the  necessary  data 
to  furnish  a  sound  basis  for  the  policy  which 
should  be  pursued  in  the  years  immediately 
ahead  of  us,  years  which  will  no  doubt  be  full 
of  many  changes  which  it  is  impossible  at  the 
present  time  for  even  the  most  prescient  to 
forecast;  and  the  more  I  have  thought  about  the 
matter,  the  plainer  it  has  become  to  me  that  we 
ought  to  have  some  such  instrumentality  as 
would  be  supplied  by  a  Tariff  Board. 

*^I  am  convinced,  as  I  suppose  every  disinter- 
ested person  must  be,  that  it  would  be  a  mistake 
to  provide  for  such  a  board  with  the  idea  of  serv- 
ing any  particular  theory  of  fiscal  policy.  What 
we  would  need  would  be,  above  all  things  else, 
a  board  as  much  as  possible  free  from  any  strong 
prepossession  in  favor  of  any  political  party, 
and  capable  of  looking  at  the  whole  economic 
situation  of  the  country  with  a  dispassionate  and 
disinterested  scrutiny. 

*^I  believe  that  we  could  obtain  such  a  board 
if  the  proper  legislation  were  enacted,  and  it  is 
quite  clear  to  me  what  the  field  of  its  inquiry 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  465 

and  activity  should  be.  It  should,  it  seems  to  me, 
investigate  the  administrative  and  fiscal  effects 
of  the  customs  laws  now  in  force  or  hereafter 
enacted;  the  relations  between  the  rates  of  duty 
on  raw  materials  and  those  on  finished  or  half 
finished  products;  the  effects  of  ad  valorem  and 
specific  duties,  and  the  classifications  of  the 
articles  of  the  several  schedules;  the  provisions 
of  law  and  the  rates  and  regulations  of  the 
Treasury  Department  regarding  entry,  appraise- 
ment, invoices,  and  collection;  and  in  general  the 
working  of  the  customs  tariff  laws  in  economic 
effect  and  administrative  method. 

*^lt  could  and  should  also  secure  facts  whicli 
would  be  very  useful  to  the  administrative  offi- 
cers of  the  Government,  to  the  Congress,  and  to 
the  public  at  large,  through  investigations  of 
revenues  derived  from  customs  duties  and  the 
articles  subject  to  duty,  the  cost  of  collection 
thereof,  and  the  revenue  collected  from  the  cus- 
toms duties  at  the  several  ports  of  entry;  and 
it  should  be  directed  to  investigate  and  throw 
light  from  every  possible  angle  on  the  tariff  rela- 
tions between  the  United  States  and  foreign 
countries,  the  rates  of  duty  imposed  on  American 
products  in  foreign  countries,  the  existence  and 


466  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

c:ffects  of  discriminating  duties,  commercial 
treaties  and  preferential  provisions  and  the 
effects  of  any  special  or  discriminating  duties  that 
may  be  levied  by  the  United  States.  It  might 
in  this  connection  furnish  the  State  Department 
with  very  valuable  information  regarding  treaty 
and  tariff  relations  between  the  United  States 
and  foreign  countries. 

^^It  might  further  be  of  great  assistance  to  the 
Congress,  and  to  the  public,  and  to  American 
industry  by  investigating  the  industrial  effects  of 
proposed  or  existing  duties  on  products  which 
compete  with  products  of  American  industry; 
the  conditions  of  competition  between  American 
and  foreign  producers,  including  all  the  essential 
facts  surrounding  the  production  of  commodities 
at  home  and  abroad;  the  volume  of  importation 
compared  with  domestic  production;  the  nature 
and  causes  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  American  as  compared  with  foreign  producers ; 
and  the  possibility  of  establishing  new  industries 
or  of  expanding  industries  already  in  existence 
through  scientific  and  practical  processes  in  such 
a  manner  as  substantially  to  promote  the  pros- 
perity of  the  United  States. 

**I  think  it  would  be  very  useful  and,  indeed, 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPArxEDNESS  457 

necessary  to  require  tlie  board  to  act  in  connec- 
tion with  all  appropriate  agencies  already  in 
existence  in  the  several  departments  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  even  with  appropriate  agencies  out- 
side of  the  existing  departments  in  order  to  avoid 
so  far  as  possible  duplications  of  work  and  to 
make  all  sources  of  official  information  avail- 
able to  the  same  end. 

*^If  broadly  enough  empowered,  such  a  board 
might  be  very  helpful  in  securing  the  facts  on 
which  to  base  an  opinion  as  to  unfair  methods 
and  circumstances  of  competition  between  foreign 
and  domestic  enterprises,  and  as  to  the  possibili- 
ties and  dangers  of  the  unfair  '' dumping"  of 
foreign  products  upon  the  American  market,  and 
the  steps  requisite  and  adequate  to  control  and 
prevent  it.  It  might  in  this  field,  as  well  as  in 
others,  secure  very  valuable  information  for  the 
guidance  of  American  Consuls,  and  for  the  use 
of  the  Board  of  General  Appraisers  and  other 
Treasury  officials. 

'*I  have  gone  into  these  particulars  because 
I  felt  that  they  would  make  clearer  than  I 
could  make  it  in  general  phrases  my  idea  of  the 
field  of  unpartisan  inquiry  within  which  such 
commission  could  render  a  useful  and  perhaps 


468  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

indispensable  service  to  tlie  country,  and  I  am 
taking  the  liberty  of  bringing  the  matter  to 
your  attention  just  at  this  time  because  I  hope 
it  will  be  possible  for  the  Committee  of  "Ways 
and  Means  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
take  this  question  up  immediately  with  a  view  of 
formulating  some  policy  and  action  concerning 
it.  I  feel  confident  that  you  will  agree  with  me 
that  the  situation  of  the  whole  world  in  the 
matter  of  economic  development  is  so  unusual, 
and  our  own  interest  in  the  changes  probably 
impending  so  vital,  that  I  am  justified  in  pressing 
this  great  topic  upon  the  consideration  of  the 
committee  at  this  time/' 

When  the  tariff  bill  was  before  Congress,  and  even 
after  the  tariff  legislation  was  completed,  there  was  a 
strong  demand  for  a  Tariff  Board.  But  the  President 
opposed  it ;  because,  as  he  explained,  he  wished  the  con- 
troversy to  end  as  soon  as  the  bill  became  a  law,  and  he 
believed  then  that  the  "purpose  of  a  Tariff  Board  was 
to  keep  alive  an  unprofitable  controversy. ' '  He  explained 
further  that  the  very  ''men  who  were  dinning  it  into 
our  ears  that  what  business  wanted  was  to  be  let  alone, 
were,  many  of  them,  men  who  were  insisting  that  we 
should  start  up  a  controversy  that  meant  that  we  could 
not  let  it  alone."    However,  two  days  after  explaining 


INDUSTRIAL  PKEPAKKDX KSS 


469 


to  ]\Ir.  Kitchin  why  ' '  some  such  instrumentality  as  would 
be  supplied  by  a  Tariff  Board"  should  be  created,  he 
wrote  a  second  letter  to  the  Plouse  Leader,  explaining 
somewhat  in  detail  why  he  had  changed  his  mind : 

''Our  conversation  yesterday  made  me  realize 
that  in  my  letter  of  the  24:th  I  had  not  set  forth 
as  I  should  have  set  them  forth  my  reasons  for 
changing  my  mind  on  the  question  of  creating  a 
Tariff  Board,  for  I  must  frankly  admit  that  I 
have  changed  my  mind  since  I  last  spoke  on 
that  subject. 

''I  have  changed  my  mind  because  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  world  have  changed,  and 
it  seems  to  me  that  in  view  of  the  extraordinary 
and  far-reaching  changes  which  the  European  war 
has  brought  about,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
we  should  have  a  competent  instrument  of  in- 
quiry along  the  whole  line  of  the  many  questions 
which  atfect  our  foreign  commerce. 

''I  have  had  in  this  change  of  mind  no  thought 
whatever  of  a  change  of  attitude  toward  the 
so-called  protective  question.  That  is  neither 
here  nor  there.  A  commission  such  as  I  have 
suggested  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  theories 
of  policy.    They  would  deal  only  with  facts,  and 


470  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  facts  wliicli  they  would  seek  ought  to  be  the 
actual  facts  of  industry,  and  of  the  conditions  of 
economic  exchange  prevailing  in  the  world,  so 
that  legislation  of  every  kind  which  touched  these 
matters  might  be  guided  by  the  circumstances 
disclosed  in  its  inquiries. 

**I  dare  say  you  feel  as  I  do,  that  it  would 
be  folly  at  this  time,  or  until  all  the  altered  con- 
ditions are  fully  understood,  to  attempt  to  deal 
with  questions  of  foreign  commerce  by  legisla- 
tion, and  yet  having  dealt  directly  and  clearly 
with  the  whole  question  of  unfair  competition 
without  our  own  borders,  it  is  clear  as  soon 
as  we  know  the  facts  we  ought  to  deal  with 
unfair  methods  of  competition  as  between  our 
own  nation  and  others,  and  this  is  only  one  of 
the  many  things  that  we  would  probably  wish 
to  deal  with.  The  other  matters  I  have  attempted 
to  indicate  in  my  previous  letter  to  you.  I  am 
glad  to  supplement  that  letter  by  this  explicit 
statement  of  the  considerations  which  have  been 
most  influential  with  me." 

He  then  called  Mr.  Kitchin's  attention  to  his 
last  message  to  Congress,  in  which  he  stated 
that    he    would    ''ask    the     privilege     of     addressing 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  471 

you  more  at  length  on  this  important  matter  a  little  later 
in  your  session.*'  INIoreover,  he  quoted  the  paragraph 
from  that  address  in  which  he  declared  that  we  must 
*^know  exactly  what  we  are  dealing  with  when 
we  come  to  act;  we  must  first  certainly  know 
what  it  is  that  we  are  seeking  to  adapt  ourselves 
to."  And  then  he  concluded  his  letter  with  these 
words : 

^'I  need  hardly  say  that  I  appreciate  very  fully 
the  motives  by  which  you  are  yourself  actuated, 
and  it  is,  therefore,  with  the  greatest  confidence 
that  I  lay  the  whole  matter  thus  fully  before  you. 
Congress  has  so  much  to  do  at  the  present  time 
that  it  is  clearly  impossible  that  it  should  be 
able  to  collect  all  the  data  which  such  a  commis- 
sion would  gather,  and  I  feel  that  it  would  pres- 
ently find  such  a  commission  indispensable  to  it.'' 

He  indicated  in  these  two  letters  to  Mr.  Kitchin  the 
steps  that  Congress  should  take  in  preparing  this  nation 
for  a  larger  industrial  life  and  for  a  world  commerce. 
However,  the  part  that  Congress  was  to  take  in  this 
great  program  was  small  in  comparison  to  the  work  ahead 
of  individuals,  for,  after  all,  he  argued,  the  success  must 
depend  largely  upon  individual  initiative  and  enter- 
prise. 


472  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

There  was  evidence  everywhere  that  this  initiative 
was  at  work.  The  Federal  Trade  Commission  was 
besieged  with  requests  from  the  business  men  of  the 
United  States  for  permission  to  cooperate  in  foreign 
trade.  They  had  even  discarded  the  old  word,  *' com- 
bine/' and  were  using  the  new  word,  '* cooperate." 
The  chairman  of  Federal  Trade  Commission  in  an  ad- 
dress at  New  Orleans  declared  that  eighty-five  per  cent 
of  the  thousands  of  replies  ''that  we  have  received 
from  the  business  men  of  the  United  States"  asked 
for  permission  to  combine  for  foreign  trade.  Then  he 
said : 

' '  It  is  of  serious  and  great  interest  to  note  that  a  very 
substantial  part  of  those  who  declare  that  such  cooper- 
ation should  not  only  be  permitted,  but  should  be  encour- 
aged, are  equally  emphatic  that  this  situation  should 
develop  under  Federal  regulations,  so  as  to  assure  not 
only  that  the  domestic  market  and  the  domestic  consumer 
should  not  thereby  be  prejudiced,  but  also  that  all  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  shall  have  fair  play  and  equal  oppor- 
tunity in  foreign  business. " 

In  February,  the  nation  was  aroused  especially  on  the 
subject  of  military  preparedness.  But  the  President  de- 
clared that  *  *  when  we  have  settled  this  great  question,  as 
we  presently  shall,  then  we  shall  talk  about  these  other 
matters."  Meanwhile,  he  was  pressing  upon  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee  of  the  House  the  necessity  of  pre- 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS  473 

senting  a  bill  in  accordance  with  the  recommendations  in 
his  letter  to  Mr.  Kitchin. 

Moreover,  he  was  still  pressing  Congress  to  pass  the 
Rural  Credit  Bill,  and  he  repeated  his  convictions  that 
it  was  necessary  "to  mobilize  the  economic  forces  of 
this  country  better  than  they  ever  have  been  mobilized 
before  for  the  service  of  the  world  after  this  great  war 
is  over.'* 

Senators  and  Members,  in  response  to  this  urgent 
request,  assured  him  that  the  bill  would  become  a  law 
before  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  Accordingly,  on 
July  17,  this  very  important  act  was  carried  to  the 
White  House  for  his  approval.  A  group  of  Senators, 
Representatives,  and  officers  of  farmers'  organizations 
assembled  in  the  Executive  Office  to  witness  the  final 
act  necessary  to  give  the  farmers  of  the  country  a  new 
credit  system.  Among  those  present  who  had  been 
especially  interested  in  the  passage  of  the  bill  were 
David  Lubin,  one  of  the  authors  of  the  bill,  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  National  Grange,  the  Farmers  Edu- 
cational and  Cooperative  Union,  the  Farmers  Society 
of  Equity,  the  Ancient  Order  of  Gleaners,  the  Farmers 
National  Congress,  and  the  National  Council  of  Farm- 
ers Cooperative  Association. 

Just  before  signing  the  measure  which  creates  a 
system  of  twelve  land  loan  banks  under  the  direction 
of  a  Federal  board,  the  President  made  a  short  address, 


474  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

pointing  out  the  benefits  which  he  believed  both  farm- 
ers and  the  investing  community  would  enjoy  under 
its  operation. 

*  ^  On  occasions  of  this  sort,  * '  he  said,  ^  ^  there  are 
so  many  things  to  say  that  one  would  despair  of 
saying  them  briefly  and  adequately,  but  I  cannot 
go  through  the  simple  ceremony  of  signing  this  bill 
without  expressing  the  feeling  that  I  have  in  sign- 
ing it.  It  is  a  feeling  of  profound  satisfaction  not 
only,  but  of  real  gratitude  that  we  have  completed 
this  piece  of  legislation,  which  I  hope  will  be 
immensely  beneficial  to  the  farmers  of  the  country. 

*^The  farmers,  it  seems  to  me,  have  occupied 
hitherto  a  singular  position  of  disadvantage.  They 
have  not  had  the  same  freedom  to  get  credit  on 
their  real  estate  that  others  have  had  who  were 
in  manufacturing  and  commercial  enterprises,  and 
while  they  have  sustained  our  life,  they  did  not  in 
the  same  degree  with  some  others  share  in  the 
benefits  of  that  life. 

i  i  Therefore,  this  bill,  along  with  the  very  liberal 
provisions  of  the  Federal  Reserve  act,  puts  them 
upon  an  equality  with  all  others  who  have  genuine 
assets,  and  makes  the  great  credit  of  the  country 
available  to  them.    One  cannot  but  feel  that  this  is 


INDUSTRIAL  PREPAREDNESS         475 

delayed  justice  to  them,  and  cannot  but  feel  that 
it  is  a  very  gratifying  thing  to  play  any  part  in 
doing  this  act  of  justice. 

*'I  look  forward  to  the  benefits  of  the  bill,  not 
with  extravagant  expectations,  but  with  confident 
expectation  that  it  will  be  a  very  wide-reaching 
benefit,  and  incidentally  it  will  be  of  advantage  to 
the  investing  community,  for  I  can  imagine  no 
more  satisfactory  and  solid  investment  than  this 
system  will  afford  those  who  have  money  to  use. 

**I  sign  the  bill,  therefore,  with  real  emotion, 
and  am  very  glad  to  be  honored  by  your  presence, 
and  supported  by  your  feeling.  I  have  no  doubt 
in  what  I  have  said  regarding  it. '  ^ 

The  bill  to  create  a  United  States  Tariff  Commis- 
sion was  also  before  Congress.  It  provided  for  a  Com- 
mission of  six  members,  but  not  more  than  three  should 
be  members  of  the  same  party.  Therefore,  it  was 
to  be  non-partisan,  and  the  members,  if  the  bill 
became  a  law,  were  to  be  appointed  for  a  period 
of  two,  four,  six,  eight,  ten  and  twelve  years.  The  old 
tariff  board  was  simply  created  by  executive  order  and 
was  authorized  by  executive  order  to  expend  a  certain 
sum  of  money  each  year.  This  new  bill  proposed  to 
create  a  distinct,  mdependent  commission  with  its 
duties  well  defined  by  law,  and  with  its  permanency 


476  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

absolutely  assured.  In  outlining  its  duties,  the  com- 
mittee followed  in  the  main  the  President's  sugges- 
tions made  to  Mr.  Kitchin. 

Thus,  after  nearly  a  generation,  business  and  Govern- 
ment were  cooperating  on  the  basis  of  developing 
our  own  resources  and  encouraging  a  foreign  trade 
that  will  give  America  industrial  preparedness  when 
the  war  closes.  In  this  long  generation  of  resistance, 
avoidance,  and  prosecutions,  both  Government  and 
business  have  learned  something,  and  each  has  taught 
the  other  much. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

FORMING  A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION. 

President  Wilson  announced,  eight  daj'^  after  his 
inauguration,  that  "one  of  the  chief  objects  of  my  admin- 
istration will  be  to  cultivate  the  friendship  and  deserve 
the  confidence  of  our  sister  republics  of  Central  and 
South  America."  The  American  people  accepted  that 
pronouncement  as  the  expression  of  an  idealist  whose 
patriotism  was  exceedingly  buoyant  after  an  unusual 
election.  However,  few,  if  any,  had  the  gift  of  prophecy 
to  foretell  the  result  of  such  a  policy.  But,  nearly  three 
years  afterward,  a  great  Pan-American  Congress  was 
sitting  in  Washington,  and  representatives  of  all  the 
Republics  of  the  two  continents,  bound  together  by  ties 
of  friendship  and  bearing  gifts  of  great  confidence  to 
the  chief  executive  of  this  nation,  were  working  earnestly 
together  for  the  domestic  peace  of  the  two  Americas, 
and  the  international  peace  of  the  world  based  "upon  the 
solid,  eternal  foundations  of  justice  and  humanity." 

The  President's  Pan-American  policy  before  the  out- 
break of  the  European  war  has  been  told  in  a  previous 
chapter.     But  its  effects  were  hardly  definable  on  that 

fateful  day  when  Austria  declared  war  on  Servia.    How- 

477 


478  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ever,  the  new  impact  of  military  forces  in  Europe  shook 
the  Western  Hemisphere  so  violently  that  the  twenty-one 
Republics  looked  immediately  to  one  another  for  sym- 
pathy and  assistance,  and  for  a  new  bond  of  union. 

A  Pan-American  Union  was  a  corollary  to  other  issues 
such  as  military  preparedness,  commercial  preparedness, 
and  industrial  preparedness.  It  was  so  related  to 
every  measure  looking  to  better  shipping  facilities 
and  to  every  scheme  for  strengthening  our  defense 
that  even  Congress  was  compelled  to  consider  our 
relations  to  the  Latin- American  states  while  discussing 
these  other  great  issues,  although  no  direct  legislation 
was  necessary. 

But  what  were  the  real  ties  that  bound  these  twenty- 
one  Republics  together  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war?  The 
Monroe  Doctrine  was  the  strongest  bond,  but  it  was  being 
assailed  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  Citizens  of 
the  United  States  referred  to  it  as  "an  anachronism  of 
folly;''  some  said  that  it  has  ** become  only  a  disad- 
vantage to  the  United  States"  and  we  should  "modify 
it."  In  Europe,  it  was  declared  that  the  efficiency  of 
the  Doctrine  "will  be  proved  by  the  distance  that  the 
guns  of  the  United  States  can  cover."  Thus,  in  both 
Europe  and  America,  this  bond  of  union  was  being  vig- 
orously attacked. 

The  second  tie  that  bound  these  twenty-one  Republics 
together  was  trade  and  commerce.  Since  the  United 
States  was  more  powerful  than  all  the  other  republics 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  4Y9 

combined,  it  would  be  natural  to  suppose  that  the  lines 
of  trade  and  commerce  between  this  country  and  each  of 
the  other  states  would  be  direct  and  very  strong.    How- 
ever, such  was  not  the  case.    A  large  business  was  carried 
on  between  the  two  Americas,  but  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
the  greater  part  of  it  was  conducted  through  European 
ports.     Therefore,  the  commercial  ties  that  bound  the 
two  Americas  together  passed  through  European  hands, 
and  the  strength  of  those  ties  was  measured  by  the  will- 
ingness of  European  bankers  and  traders  to  facilitate 
intercourse  between  the  two  Americas.    We  have  already 
seen  that  European  vessels  carried  over  90  per  cent  of 
American  commerce,  and  the  shortest  route  from  New 
York  to  Rio  or  Buenos  Aires  was  by  way  of  Hamburg 
or  Liverpool.     Moreover,  the  financial  transactions  be- 
tween the  two  Americas  was  conducted  not  in  American 
money  or  through  American  banks,  but  in   European 
banks.    The  exchange  was  made  in  Europe,  and  the  bal- 
ance of  trade  was  settled  in  European  coin. 

Furthermore,  this  long-distance  union  of  the  two 
Americas,  made  in  the  interest  of  European  business  and 
silently  permitted  through  the  negligence  of  American 
business,  was  encouraged  by  educational  theorists;  they 
.advised  teachers  of  geography  to  follow  trade  lines  in 
instructing  the  youth,  and  to  lead  the  students  from 
North  America  to  Europe  and  from  thence  to  South 
America. 

These  were  the  very  doubtful  ties  that  bound  the  two 


480  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Americas  together  when  Woodrow  Wilson  began  ' '  to  cul- 
tivate the  friendship  and  deserve  the  confidence"  of  the 
Latin- American  states.  Through  this  means  he  sought 
to  preserve  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  to  increase  the 
commercial  and  financial  intercourse  between  the  two 
continents,  and  in  this  way  create  an  irresistible  Pan- 
American  Union,  in  the  interest,  not  of  the  United  States 
solely,  but  of  every  republic  in  the  two  continents 
founded  on  constitutional  government. 

The  Latin-American  states  were  the  first  to  feel  the 
effects  of  the  President's  new  Pan-American  policies, 
because  the  militaristic  policies  of  European  nations 
appeared  more  formidable  to  Latin- America  than  to  the 
United  States.  A  new  declaration  of  independence  for 
constitutional  governments  needed  to  be  stated  so 
strongly  that  every  republic  in  the  Western  Hemisphere 
might  feel  secure  in  its  independence,  and  every  imperial- 
istic European  nation  might  beware.  The  Latin- Ameri- 
can states  were  soon  to  see  in  President  Wilson's  policies 
the  outlines  of  this  long  hoped  for  declaration,  and  Latin- 
American  writers  noted  them  down  with  an  eagerness 
that  surprised  the  cool-headed  Anglo-Saxon  of  North 
America. 

It  is  well  to  sum  up  here  the  articles  of  the  Wilson 
Doctrine  as  applied  to  this  hemisphere:  The  rule  of 
right  and  justice  shall  be  applied  to  business  activities 
in  America ;  this  government  will  not  be  a  partner  in 
any  business   enterprise   in   a  foreign    country    that 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  481 

would  be  unlawful  at  home;  the  United  States  is  the 
friend  of  constitutional  government  in  the  two  Ameri- 
cas ;  the  republics  of  this  hemisphere  shall  treat  one 
another  as  equals,  and  each  shall  have  the  right  to 
govern  its  internal  affairs  without  interference  from 
any  other  republic ;  the  United  States  will  never  again 
seek  an  additional  foot  of  territory  by  conquest ;  and 
one  republic  has  a  friendly  interest  in  the  other  twenty, 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to  guard  and  maintain  the 
rights  of  each. 

This  new  declaration  of  independence  for  the  Western 
Hemisphere  did  not  pass  without  a  protest  at  home  and 
much  criticism  in  Europe.  But,  as  Senor  Leopold  Lu- 
gones,  a  writer  on  political  and  economic  questions  of 
Argentina,  declared  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Euro- 
pean war,  "The  serenity  with  which  President  Wilson 
accepts  the  most  severe  criticism,  even  to  the  point  of 
endangering  the  material  prestige  of  the  United  States, 
is  the  best  proof  of  the  honesty  of  his  idealistic  policy, ' ' 
and  ' '  The  Pan-American  ideal,  in  countries  where  great 
natural  obstacles  created  barriers,  may  not  be  realized  for 
many  years  to  come,  but  to  Latin- America  it  is  a  noble 
aspiration.'* 

At  the  beginning  of  the  European  war  it  became  very 
clear  to  Americans  that  Europe  had  dominated  South 
America,  because  she  controlled  all  the  leading  trade 
lines  to  South  America  and  all  the  important  interna- 
tional banking  institutions  of  that  continent.    But  these 


482  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

trade  lines  were  partially  destroyed  by  the  war,  and  the 
whole  financial  system  was  thrown  into  confusion.  The 
President's  activity  for  better  shipping  facilities,  the 
wisdom  of  which  will  appear  more  and  more  as  our  rela- 
tions to  South  America  are  studied,  was  followed  immedi- 
ately by  a  call  for  a  financial  conference  of  the  two  con- 
tinents. The  opportunity  for  service  and  the  necessity 
for  immediate  action  moved  him,  acting  through  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  issue  an  invitation  to  all 
the  Latin-American  states  to  attend  a  Pan-American 
Financial  Congress  to  be  held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  to 
confer  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  Secretary 
of  Commerce,  Members  of  the  Federal  Reserve  Board, 
and  American  bankers,  in  regard  to  improving  the  finan- 
cial relations  between  this  country  and  Central  and  South 
America.  When  Congress  convened  in  December,  1914, 
it  appropriated  $50,000  for  the  entertainment  of  the  vis- 
itors as  the  guests  of  the  nation. 

The  republics  of  the  two  continents  responded 
promptly  and  very  cordially  to  the  invitation,  and  when 
the  Conference  convened.  May  24,  1915,  every  republic 
was  represented  except  Mexico  and  Haiti.  At  the  open- 
ing session  President  Wilson  was  present  to  welcome 
the  official  delegates  from  the  other  American  repub- 
lics, and  his  utterances  on  that  occasion  were  both 
reassuring  and  very  significant.  After  a  few  introduc- 
tory remarks,  he  declared : 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  483 

**  There  can  be  no  sort  of  union  of  interest,  if 
there  is  a  purpose  of  exploitation  on  the  part  of 
any  person  connected  with  a  great  conference  of 
this  sort.  We  are  not,  therefore,  trying  to  make 
use  of  each  other,  but  we  are  trying  to  be  of  use 
to  one  another. 

^'It  is  very  trying  to  me,  it  is  even  a  source 
of  mortification  to  me,  that  a  conference  like  this 
should  have  been  so  long  delayed,  that  it  should 
never  have  occurred  before,  that  it  should  have 
required  a  crisis  of  the  world  to  show  the  Ameri- 
cans how  truly  they  were  neighbors  to  one  an- 
other. If  there  is  any  one  happy  circumstance, 
gentlemen,  arising  out  of  the  present  distressing 
circumstance  of  the  world,  it  is  that  it  has 
revealed  us  to  one  another ;  it  has  shown  us  what 
it  means  to  be  neighbors.  And  I  cannot  help  har- 
boring the  hope,  the  very  high  hope,  that  by  this 
commerce  of  minds  with  one  another,  as  well  as 
commerce  in  goods,  we  may  show  the  world,  in 
part,  the  path  to  peace. 

^'It  would  be  a  very  great  thing  if  the  Ameri- 
cans could  add  to  the  distinction  which  they 
already  wear,  this  of  showing  the  way  to  peace, 
to  permanent  peace.     The  way  to  peace  for  us, 


484  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

at  any  rate,  is  manifest.  It  is  the  kind  of  rivalry 
which  does  not  involve  aggression.  It  is  the 
knowledge  that  men  can  be  of  the  greatest  service 
to  one  another  when  the  jealousy  between  them 
is  merely  a  jealously  of  excellence  and  when  the 
basis  of  their  intercourse  is  friendship.  There  is 
only  one  way  in  which  we  wish  to  take  advantage 
of  you,  and  that  is  by  making  better  goods,  by 
doing  the  things  that  we  seek  to  do  for  each 
other  better,  if  we  can,  than  you  do  them,  and 
so  spurring  you  on,  if  we  might,  by  so  handsome 
a  jealousy  as  that  to  excel  us. 

**I  am  so  keenly  aware  that  the  basis  of  per- 
sonal friendship  is  this  competition  of  excellence 
that  I  am  perfectly  certain  that  this  is  the  only 
basis  for  the  friendship  of  nations,  this  handsome 
rivalry,  this  rivalry  in  which  there  is  no  dislike, 
this  rivalry  in  which  there  is  nothing  but  the  hope 
of  a  common  elevation  in  great  enterprise  which 
we  can  undertake  in  common. '' 

He  then  spoke  of  the  very  great  need  of  a  merchant 
marine,  how  we  must  secure  it  if  private  capital  does  not 
undertake  to  build  it,  and  what  it  would  mean  to  the 
Latin-American  states  if  we  had  direct  lines  of  com- 
munication.    Then  he  continued; 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  435 

*'We  cannot  indefinitely  stand  apart  and  need 
each  other  for  the  lack  of  what  can  easily  be 
supplied,  and,  if  one  instrumentality  cannot 
supply  it,  then  another  must  be  found  which 
will  supply  it.  We  cannot  know  each  other  unless 
we  see  each  other;  we  cannot  deal  with  each  other 
unless  we  conununicate  with  each  other.  So  soon 
as  we  communicate  and  are  on  a  familiar  footing 
of  intercourse  with  one  another,  w^e  shall  under- 
stand one  another,  and  the  bonds  between  the 
Americas  wall  be  such  that  no  influence  that  the 
world  may  produce  in  the  future  will  ever  break 
them. 

^*If  I  am  selfish  for  America,  I  at  least  hope 
that  my  selfishness  is  enlightened.  The  selfish- 
ness that  hurts  the  other  party  is  not  enlightened 
selfishness.  If  I  am  going  upon  a  mere  ground 
of  selfishness,  I  would  seek  to  benefit  the  other 
party  and  so  tie  him  to  myself  that  even  if  you 
were  to  suspect  me  of  selfishness,  I  hope  you 
will  also  suspect  me  of  intelligence  and  of  know- 
ing the  only  safe  w^ay  for  the  establishment  of 
the  things  w^hich  we  covet,  as  well  as  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  things  which  we  desire  and  which 
we  should  feel  honored  if  we  could  earn  and  win. 

^'I  have   said  these  things  because  they  will 


486  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

perhaps  enable  you  to  understand  liow  far  from 
formal  my  welcome  to  this  body  is.  It  is  a  wel- 
come from  the  heart,  it  is  a  welcome  inspired  by 
what  I  hope  are  the  highest  ambitions  for  those 
who  live  in  these  two  great  continents,  w^ho  seek 
to  set  an  example  to  the  world  in  freedom  of 
institutions,  freedom  of  trade,  and  intelligence 
of  mutual  service." 

The  purpose  of  the  Conference  as  stated  in  the  invita- 
tion was  to  confer  about  direct  shipping  facilities,  direct 
banking    facilities,    and    better    commercial    relations. 
This    Conference,    according    to    Mr.    John    Barrett, 
Director-General  of  the  Pan-American  Union,  "marks 
the  most  important  step  in  our  relations  with   South 
America    since    Mr.    Blaine    presided    over    the    first 
Conference  of  American  republics  in  1889,"  and  this 
opinion  was  echoed  by  the  press  of  the  country.    How- 
ever, the  President's  Shipping  Bill,  which  had  been  pre- 
sented to  Congress  before  its  adjournment,  and  which 
was  still  a  much  talked  of  measure  because  it  was  certain 
to  become  a  live  subject  in  the  64th  Congress,  was  so 
intimately  related  to  the  main  object  of  the  Conference 
that  the  partisan  opponents  of  the  Shipping  Bill  in  Con- 
gress "were  afraid  that  Mr.  Wilson  might  use  the  occa- 
sion to  advance  the  administration's  project  for  a  gov- 
ernment owned  merchant  marine,  a  bill  that  Congress 
had  failed  to  endorse." 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  487 

Although  the  partisan  press  was  so  sensitive  to  the 
tinkling  c}'mbals  of  its  foes  that  it  could  not  hear  the 
clear  call  to  duty,  the  stable  minded  people  of  America 
saw  in  this  conference  the  beginning  of  new  relations 
between  the  two  continents.  Mr.  Vanderlip,  president 
of  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York,  informed  the 
Conference,  and  it  was  news  to  this  nation  as  well,  that 
the  Federal  Keserve  Act  and  the  great  surplus  of  re- 
serves resulting  in  the  national  banks  of  the  country, 
gave  an  unusual  opportunity  for  the  United  States  to 
engage  in  foreign  loans,  and  as  a  result,  the  National 
City  Bank  of  New  York  was  taking  advantage  of  the 
provisions  in  the  Act  to  establish  a  branch  bank  in 
Buenos  Aires.  These  words  of  President  Vanderlip  were 
the  announcement  of  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for 
American  business  in  South  America. 

European  bankers  had  been  in  the  habit  of  exacting 
large  tolls  from  this  country  for  the  privilege  of  supply- 
ing Americans  with  capital  to  transact  business  in  Cen- 
tral and  South  America.  And  Americans  paid  the  heavy 
rates  because  American  capital  was  not  established  there. 
This  conference,  however,  created  an  international  com- 
mission composed  of  representatives  from  each  nation  to 
study  all  financial  problems  pertaining  to  the  American 
Republics,  and  to  work  out  a  way  by  which  each  might 
be  a  help  to  all. 

Within  a  few  months  about  twenty  American  banks, 
it  is  said,  were  established  in  the  Latin- American  states, 


488  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

American  capital  was  extending  its  arms  into  Central 
and  South  America  and  furnishing  the  means  to  market 
the  chief  articles  of  export  from  those  countries  to  the 
United  States.  These  new  banking  facilities,  necessary 
forerunners  of  trade  development,  were  now  taking  into 
account  heretofore  neglected  opportunities  in  the  enor- 
mously rich  countries  immediately  to  the  south  of  us. 
Private  capital  was  losing  its  timidity,  and  ' '  a  commerce 
of  minds  with  one  another"  was  producing  a  stronger 
bond  of  union,  and  '  ^  a  whole  hemisphere  acting  as  a  unit 
in  sharp  contradiction  to  Europe  rent  into  hostile 
camps,"  was  not  impossible  of  realization. 

President  Wilson,  in  turning  more  and  more  to  the 
Latin- Americas  for  advice  in  the  ever  perplexing  Mexican 
trouble,  carried  assurance  to  the  Republics  that  the 
President  was  absolutely  sincere  in  his  efforts  to  see  a 
real  Pan-American  Union  working  harmoniously  and 
without  suspicion  for  the  maintenance  of  peace.  He 
pointed  out  early  in  his  administration  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  talk  to  and  act  for  the  South  American  people, 
but  quite  another  thing  to  consult  them  for  the  purpose 
of  cooperating,  thereby  securing  unity  of  action.  His 
policy  of  cooperation  was  clearing  the  air  of  suspicion 
and  distrust,  and  whatever  the  final  action  may  be  in 
regard  to  Mexico,  certainly,  the  first  three  years  of 
cooperation  has  been  productive  of  such  good  results 
to  the  two  continents,  that  subsequent  events  can  hardly 
affect  that  cordial  support  and  good  will  that  has  grown 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  489 

out  of  this  Pan-American  policy;  and  a  Pan-American 
Union  is  more  desirable  than  armed  intervention  in 
Mexico,  even  with  peace  south  of  the  Rio  Grande  as  a 
possible  outcome. 

However,  the  President's  policy  was  to  secure  peace 
in  Mexico  through  the  cooperative  efforts  of  all  the 
other  American  republics,  rather  than  by  acting  alone. 
By  this  means  he  was  weaving  a  cord  more  powerful 
than  that  made  by  trade  and  commerce  and  a  chain  of 
banks.  It  was  a  cord  of  mutual  confidence  and  esteem 
that  would  strengthen  all  other  bonds  since  they  would 
be  greatly  reinforced  by  it.  Therefore,  while  the  press 
was  complaining  about  the  Mexican  irritation,  and  annex- 
ationists were  ridiculing  the  President's  methods,  the 
Administration  was  really  perfecting  a  council  board 
composed  of  the  American  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
diplomatic  representatives  at  Washington  of  Argen- 
tina, Brazil,  Chile,  Bolivia,  Uruguay,  and  Guatemala,  to 
aid  in  settling  vexatious  matters  in  Mexico  and  other 
Latin-American  countries. 

The  great  issues  of  the  war  were  so  closely  related  to 
the  President's  Pan-American  policies  that  he  devoted  a 
large  part  of  his  message  to  this  subject,  not  because  any 
direct  legislation  was  needed,  but  because  every  great 
American  policy  was  dependent  in  some  way  upon  a  Pan- 
American  Union, 


490  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

^' There  was  a  time,''  he  said,  ^'in  the  early 
days  of  our  own  great  nation  and  of  the  republics 
fighting  their  way  to  independence  in  Central  and 
South  America  when  the  government  of  the 
United  States  looked  upon  itself  as  in  some  sort 
the  guardian  of  the  republics  to  the  south  of 
her  as  against  any  encroachments  or  efforts  at 
political  control  from  the  other  side  of  the  water ; 
felt  it  its  duty  to  play  the  part  without  invitation 
from  them;  and  I  think  that  we  can  claim  that 
the  task  was  undertaken  with  a  true  and  disin- 
terested enthusiasm  for  the  freedom  of  the 
Americas  and  the  unmolested  self-government  of 
her  independent  peoples.  But  it  was  always  diffi- 
cult to  maintain  such  a  role  without  offense  to  the 
pride  of  the  peoples  whose  freedom  of  action  we 
sought  to  protect,  and  without  provoking  serious 
miscoaiceptions  of  our  motives,  and  every  thought- 
ful man  of  affairs  must  welcome  the  altered  cir- 
cumstances of  the  new  day  in  whose  light  we  now 
stand,  when  there  is  no  claim  of  guardianship  or 
thought  of  wards,  but,  instead,  a  full  and  honor- 
able association  as  of  partners  between  ourselves 
and  our  neighbors,  in  the  interest  of  all  America, 
north  and  south. 

*^Our  concern  for  the  independence  and  pros- 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  491 

perity  of  Central  and  South  America  is  not 
altered.  We  retain  unabated  tlie  spirit  that  has 
inspired  us  throughout  the  whole  life  of  our 
government,  and  which  was  so  frankly  put  into 
words  by  President  Monroe.  We  still  mean 
always  to  make  a  common  cause  of  national 
independence  and  of  political  liberty  in  America. 
But  that  purpose  is  now  better  understood  so 
far  as  it  concerns  ourselves.  It  is  known  not 
to  be  a  selfish  purpose.  It  is  known  to  have  in 
it  no  thought  of  taking  advantage  of  any  govern- 
ment in  this  hemisphere  or  playing  its  political 
fortunes  for  our  own  benefit.  All  the  govern- 
ments of  America  stand,  so  far  as  we  are  con- 
cerned, upon  a  footing  of  genuine  equality  and 
unquestioned  independence. ' ' 

He  then  spoke  of  that  purpose  as  it  was  applied  to 
iMexico,  and  he  declared  that  our  course  in  Mexico  ought 
to  be  sufficient  proof  to  all  America  that  we  seek  no 
political  superiority  or  selfish  control. 

**The  moral  is,"  he  continued,  ^'that  the  states 
of  America  are  not  hostile  rivals,  but  cooperating 
friends,  and  that  their  growing  sense  of  com- 
munity of  interest,  alike  in  matters  political  and 
in  matters  economic,  is  likely  to  give  them  a  new 


492  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

significance  as  factors  in  international  affairs 
and  in  the  political  history  of  the  world.  It 
presents  them  as  in  a  very  deep  and  true  sense 
a  unit  in  world  affairs,  spiritual  partners,  stand- 
ing together  because  thinking  together,  quick  with 
common  sympathies  and  common  ideals.  Sep- 
arated, they  are  subject  to  all  the  cross  currents 
of  the  confused  politics  of  a  world  of  hostile 
rivalries;  united  in  spirit  and  purpose,  they  can- 
not be  disappointed  of  their  peaceful  destiny. 

*  ^  This  is  Pan- Americanism.  It  has  none  of  the 
spirit  of  empire  in  it.  It  is  the  embodiment,  the 
effectual  embodiment,  of  the  spirit  of  law,  and 
independence,  and  liberty,  and  mutual  service. 

*^A  very  notable  body  of  men  recently  met  in 
the  City  of  Washington  at  the  invitation  and  as 
the  guests  of  this  Government,  whose  delibera- 
tions are  likely  to  be  looked  back  to  as  marking 
a  memorable  turning  point  in  the  history  of 
America.  They  were  representative  spokesmen 
of  the  several  independent  states  of  this  hemi- 
sphere, and  were  assembled  to  discuss  the  com- 
mercial and  financial  relations  of  the  republics 
of  the  two  continents  which  nature  and  political 
fortune  have  so  intimately  linked  together.  I 
earnestly  recommend  to  your  perusal  the  reports 


A  PAX-AMERICAN  UNION 


493 


of  their  proceedings  and  of  the  actions  of  their 
committees.  You  will  get  from  them,  I  think,  a 
fresh  conception  of  the  ease  and  intelligence  and 
advantage  with  which  Americans  of  both  con- 
tinents may  draw  together  in  practical  coopera- 
tion, and  of  what  this  must  consist — of  how  we 
should  build  them  and  of  how  necessary  it  is 
that  we  should  hasten  their  building.'* 

National  defense  was  a  much  debated  subject  when  the 
message  was  delivered  to  Congress,  and  he  pointed  out 
again  the  relation  of  a  great  Pan-American  Union  to  that 
question. 

^'No  one  who  really  comprehends  the  spirit  of 
the  great  people  for  whom  we  are  appointed  to 
speak  can  fail  to  perceive  that  their  passion  is 
for  peace,  their  genius  best  displayed  in  the 
practice  of  the  arts  of  peace.  Great  democracies 
are  not  belligerent.  They  do  not  seek  or  desire 
war.  Their  thought  is  of  individual  liberty  and 
of  the  free  labor  that  supports  life,  and  the 
uncensured  thought  that  quickens  it.  Conquest 
and  dominion  are  not  in  our  reckoning,  or  agree- 
able to  our  principles. 

''But  just  because  we  demand  unmolested  de- 
velopment and  the  undisturbed  government  of  our 
own  lives  upon  our  own  principles  of  right  and 


494  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

liberty,  we  resent,  from  whatever  quarter  it  may 
come,  the  aggression  we  ourselves  will  not  prac- 
tice. We  insist  upon  security  in  prosecuting  our 
self -chosen  lines  of  national  development.  We  do 
more  than  that.  We  demand  it  also  for  others. 
We  do  not  confine  our  enthusiasm  for  individual 
liberty  and  free  national  development  to  the 
incidents  and  movements  of  affairs  which  affect 
only  ourselves.  We  feel  it  wherever  there  is  a 
people  that  tries  to  walk  in  these  difficult  paths 
of  independence  and  right.  From  the  first  we 
have  made  common  cause  with  all  partisans  of 
liberty  on  this  side  of  the  sea,  and  have  deemed 
it  as  important  that  our  neighbors  should  be  free 
from  all  outside  domination  as  that  we  ourselves 
should  be;  and  we  have  set  America  aside  as  a 
whole  for  the  uses  of  independent  nations  and 
political  freemen.'' 

President  Wilson's  Pan-American  policies  were  giving 
a  new  meaning — an  enlarged  meaning — to  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  and  when  this  message  was  delivered  in  Con- 
gress, the  Western  Hemisphere  was  about  to  witness  a 
union  of  the  two  Americas,  such  as  the  Monroe  Doctrine, 
nearly  a  century  old,  never  anticipated.  The  old  Monroe 
Doctrine  was  primarily  a  doctrine  of  defiance  to  Europe, 
and  much  of  our  military  as  well  as  diplomatic  history 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  495 

is  proof  that  suspicion  and  distrust  were  placed  in  the 
minds  of  the  Latin  states  by  our  old  interpretation  of 
this  doctrine.  Mr.  Albert  Bushnell  Hart  said,  ''the  best 
military  authorities  seem  to  be  agreed  that  the  Doctrine 
will  lead  to  war  if  we  adhere  to  it.  ...  ;  it  is  bound  to 
lead  to  war  if  any  powerful  nation  is  willing  to  risk 
war  with  us  for  the  sake  of  what  it  may  pick  up  in 
America."  And  many  people  in  America  believed  the 
Doctrine  was  not  worth  fighting  for. 

The  wisdom  of  Mr.  Wilson's  policy,  therefore,  is  ap- 
parent, and  the  necessity  for  a  Pan-American  Union  on 
the  basis  of  equality  with  all  suspicion  and  mistrust  dis- 
pelled from  this  hemisphere  is  a  consummation  that  was 
hardly  believed  to  be  possible  when  the  President  deliv- 
ered his  Mobile  speech  in  October,  1913.     However,  it 
was  quite  evident  before  a  year  had  passed  that  ''the 
states  of  America  have  become  more  conscious  of  a  new 
and  vital  community  of  interests  and  moral  partnership 
in  affairs,  more  clearly  conscious  of  the  many  sympathies 
and  interests  which  bid  them  stand  together. ' '    And  now 
that  the  President 's  statesmanship  was  beginning  to  bear 
fruit  of  great  and  lasting  value  to  this  hemisphere,  not 
only   this   nation   but   the  Latin-American   states  were 
declaring   that   the   Monroe   Doctrine   was   unfolding 
into  a  new  doctrine— the  Wilson  Doctrine    of    Pan- 
Americanism. 

The  President's  address  to  Congress  was  well  timed  to 
be  productive  of  still  greater  results.     The  second  Pan- 


49^  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

American  Scientific  Congress  was  to  assemble  in  Wash- 
ington only  a  few  weeks  later  during  the  Christmas  holi- 
days. Although  this  Congress  in  its  origin  had  one 
special  purpose,  as  its  name  indicates,  the  discussions  of 
science  were  subordinated  to  another  more  important 
topic.  President  Wilson 's  assertion  that ' '  all  the  govern- 
ments of  America  stand,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned, 
upon  a  footing  of  genuine  equality  and  unquestioned 
independence, ' '  was  the  keynote  of  the  whole  Conference ; 
and  Secretary  Lansing,  in  welcoming  the  delegates  to 
Washington,  caught  up  this  note  which  was  sounded  at 
every  meeting  and  in  almost  every  general  address. 

**I  speak  only  for  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,"  said  Secretary  Lansing,  ''but  in  doing  so  I  am 
sure  that  I  express  sentiments  which  will  find  an  echo 
in  every  republic  represented  here,  when  I  say  that  the 
might  of  this  country  will  never  be  exercised  in  a  spirit 
of  greed  to  wrest  from  a  neighboring  state  its  territory 
or  possessions.  The  ambitions  of  this  Republic  do  not 
lie  in  the  path  of  conquest,  but  in  the  paths  of  peace  and 
justice.  Whenever  and  wherever  we  can,  we  will  stretch 
forth  a  hand  to  those  who  need  help.  If  the  sovereignty 
of  a  sister  republic  is  menaced  from  overseas,  the  power 
of  the  United  States  and,  I  hope  and  believe,  the  united 
power  of  the  American  republics  will  constitute  a  bul- 
wark which  will  protect  the  independence  and  integrity 
of  their  neighbor  from  unjust  invasion  or  aggression. 


A  PAX-AMERICAN  UNION  497 

The  American  family  might  well  take  for  its  motto  that 
of  Dumas '  famous  musketeers, '  One  for  all,  all  for  one '. ' ' 

After  assuring  the  members  of  the  Congress  of  the 
need  of  ''cooperation  and  helpfulness  by  a  dignified 
regard  for  the  rights  of  all,  and  by  living  our  lives  in 
harmony  and  good  will/*  he  laid  out  the  metes  and 
bounds  of  ' '  Pan-Americanism ' '  as  the  ' '  expression  of  the 
idea  of  internationalism,"  and  concluded  with  these 
significant  words : 

''The  path  of  opportunity  lies  plain  before  us  Amer- 
icans. The  Government  and  people  of  every  republic 
should  strive  to  inspire  in  others  confidence  and  co- 
operation by  exhibiting  integrity  of  purpose  and  equity 
of  action.  Let  us  as  members  of  this  congress,  therefore, 
meet  together  on  the  plane  of  common  interests,  and 
together  seek  the  common  good.  Whatever  is  of  common 
interest,  whatever  makes  for  the  common  good,  what- 
ever demands  united  effort  is  a  fit  subject  for  applied 
Pan-Americanism,  Fraternal  helpfulness  is  the  key- 
stone to  the  arch.    Its  pillars  are  faith  and  justice. 

"In  this  great  movement  this  congress  will,  I  believe, 
play  an  exalted  part.  You,  gentlemen,  represent  power- 
ful intellectual  forces  in  your  respective  countries.  To- 
gether you  represent  the  enlightened  thought  of  the 
continent.  The  policy  of  Pan- Americanism  is  practical. 
The  Pan-American  spirit  is  ideal.  It  finds  its  source 
and  being  in  the  minds  of  thinking  men.     It  is  the  off- 


498  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

spring  of  the  best,  the  noblest  conceptions  of  inter- 
national obligation. 

''With  all  earnestness,  therefore,  I  commend  to  you, 
gentlemen,  the  thought  of  the  American  republics, 
twenty-one  sovereign  and  independent  nations,  bound 
together  by  faith  and  justice,  and  firmly  cemented  by  a 
sympathy  which  knows  no  superior  and  no  inferior,  but 
which  recognizes  only  fraternity  and  equality." 

Senator  Elihu  Root  of  New  York,  who,  too,  had  the 
Pan-American  spirit,  in  a  very  notable  address  before 
the  Conference  made  a  strong  plea  for  the  rights  of 
small  nations. 

' '  The  great  body  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, ' ' 
he  said,  "loves  justice  enough  to  be  willing  to  render 
it  to  others.  We  believe  that  nobility  of  spirit,  that  high 
ideals,  that  capacity  for  sacrifice  are  nobler  than  material 
wealth.  We  know  that  these  can  be  found  in  the  little 
state  as  well  as  in  the  big  one.  In  our  respect  for  you 
who  are  small  and  who  are  great  there  can  be  no  element 
of  condescension,  for  that  would  be  to  do  a  violence  to 
our  own  conception  of  the  dignity  of  independent  sover- 
eignty. We  desire  no  benefits  which  are  not  the  benefits 
rendered  by  honorable  equals  to  each  other.  We  seek 
for  no  control  that  we  are  unwilling  to  concede  to 
others. ' ' 

On  January  1,  greetings  to  the  Pan-American  Scientific 
Congress  were  received  from  the  Chief  Executives  of 
most  of  the   South  American  Republics;  and  without 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  499 

exception  the  tone  of  the  New  Year's  greetings  was  one 
of  friendliness  and  cooperation.  Argentina's  hope  was 
for  ' '  A  closer  relationship ' ' ;  Chile 's  great  desire  was  for 
**the  solidarity  of  all  the  peoples  of  America";  Para- 
guay's best  wishes  were  for  ''the  further  unification  of 
the  moral  interests  of  all  America";  even  Mexico  ex- 
pressed the  hope  ''that  the  Pan-American  Scientific 
Congress  may  have  complete  success  in  its  interesting 
task";  and  all  the  republics  expressed  either  directly, 
or  through  their  representatives,  the  hope  that  the  Con- 
gress would  result  in  a  greater  union  of  American 
republics. 

It  was  not  until  near  the  close  of  the  session,  January 
6,  that  President  Wilson  was  able  to  attend  the  Con- 
ference. His  policies  had  given  direction  to  its  discus- 
sions, and  his  terse  sentences  had  been  the  subjects  of 
addresses  delivered  by  Latin- American  representatives. 
Therefore,  his  appearance  was  the  signal  for  a  great 
demonstration.  He  was  introduced  to  the  Congress  by 
President  Eduardo  Suarez-Mujica,  Ambassador  of  Chile, 
as  a  "statesman  who  has  radically  changed  the  nature 
of  the  relations  among  the  people  of  this  continent,  and 
has  built  an  American  international  policy  of  mutual 
esteem  and  cooperation,  at  this  moment  praised  and 
applauded  by  the  whole  continent." 

The  introduction  was  delivered  in  English,  but,  since 
many  delegates  were  present  from  South  America 
who  could  not  readily  understand  that  language,  the 


500  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Ambassador  of  Brazil  translated  the  remarks  into  Span- 
ish amid  great  applause  from  the  Latin- Americans. 

When  Mr.  Wilson  arose  to  speak,  he  stood  just  in 
front  of  an  artistic  grouping  of  all  the  flags  of  all  the 
republics  of  the  two  Americas — symbolic  of  the  great 
Pan-American  Union  and  the  leadership  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  amid  such  surroundings 
that  he  outlined  more  definitely  than  ever  before  his  plan 
of  union  for  the  twenty-one  republics.  After  expressing 
his  regrets  at  being  unable  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the 
Congress,  and  after  felicitating  that  body  on  the  great 
change  that  had  come  about  in  the  relationships  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Latin-American  states,  he 
said : 

*^Tlie  Monroe  Doctrine  was  proclaimed  by  the 
United  States  on  lier  own  authority.  It  has 
always  been  maintained  and  always  will  be  main- 
tained upon  her  own  responsibility.  But  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  demanded  merely  that  European 
Governments  should  not  attempt  to  extend  their 
political  systems  to  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  It 
did  not  disclose  the  use  which  the  United  States 
intended  to  make  of  her  power  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  It  was  a  hand  held  up  in  warning, 
but  there  was  no  promise  in  it  of  what  America 
was  going  to   do  with  the  implied   and  partial 


A  PAX-AMERICAN  UNION  591 

protectorate  which  she  apparently  was  trying  to 
set  up  on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  I  believe  you 
will  sustain  me  in  the  statement  that  it  has  been 
fears  and  suspicions  on  this  score  which  have 
hitherto  prevented  the  greater  intimacy  and  con- 
fidence and  trust  between  the  Americas. 

''The  States  of  America  have  not  been  certain 
what  the  United  States  would  do  with  her  power. 
That  doubt  must  be  removed.  And  latterly  there 
has  been  a  very  frank  interchange  of  views 
between  the  authorities  in  Washington  and  those 
who  represented  the  other  States  of  this  hemi- 
sphere, an  interchange  of  views  charming  and 
hopeful,  because  based  upon  an  increasingly  sure 
appreciation  of  the  spirit  in  which  they  were 
undertaken.  These  gentlemen  have  seen  that  if 
America  is  to  come  into  her  own,  into  her  legiti- 
mate own,  in  a  world  of  peace  and  order,  she 
must  establish  the  foundations  of  amity  so  that 
no  one  will  hereafter  doubt  them. 

''I  hope  and  I  believe  that  this  can  be  accom- 
plished. These  conferences  have  enabled  me  to 
see  how  it  will  be  accomplished.  It  will  be  accom- 
plished, in  tlie  first  place,  by  the  states  of 
America  uniting  in  guaranteeing  to  each  other 
political  independence  and  territorial  integrity; 


502  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

in  the  second  place,  and  as  a  necessary  corollary 
to  that,  guaranteeing  the  agreement  to  settle  all 
pending  boundary  disputes  as  soon  as  possible 
and  by  amiable  process ;  by  agreeing  that  all  dis- 
putes among  themselves,  should  they  unhappily 
arise,  will  be  handled  by  patient,  impartial  in- 
vestigation and  settled  by  arbitration;  and  the 
agreement,  necessary  to  the  peace  of  the  Amer- 
icas, that  no  State  on  either  continent  will  permit 
revolutionary  expeditions  against  another  State 
to  be  fitted  out  in  its  own  territory,  and  that  they 
will  prohibit  the  exportation  of  the  munitions  of 
war  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  revolutionists 
against  neighboring  Governments. 

**You  see  what  our  thought  is,  gentlemen:  not 
only  the  international  peace  of  America,  but  the 
democratic  peace  of  America.  If  American 
States  are  constantly  in  ferment,  there  will  be 
a  standing  threat  to  their  relations  with  one 
another.  It  is  just  as  much  to  our  interest  to 
assist  one  another  to  the  orderly  processes  within 
our  own  borders  as  it  is  to  orderly  processes  in 
our  controversies  with  one  another.  These  are 
very  practical  suggestions  which  have  sprung  up 
in  the  minds  of  thoughtful  men,  and  I,  for  my 
part,  believe  that  they  are  going  to  lead  the  way 


A  PAX-AMERICAN  UNION  593 

to  something  that  America  has  prayed  for  for 
many  a  generation.  For  they  are  based,  in  the 
first  place,  as  far  as  the  stronger  states  are  con- 
cerned, upon  the  handsome  principle  of  self- 
restraint  and  respect  for  the  rights  of  everybody. 
They  are  based  upon  the  principles  of  absolute 
political  equality  among  the  states,  equality  of 
right,  not  equality  of  indulgence. 

*'They  are  based,  in  short,  upon  the  solid, 
eternal  foundations  of  justice  and  humanity.  No 
man  can  turn  away  from  these  things  without 
turning  away  from  the  hope  of  the  world.  These 
are  things,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  which  the 
world  has  hoped  and  waited  mth  prayerful  heart. 
God  grant  that  it  may  be  granted  to  America  to 
lift  this  light  on  high  for  the  illumination  of  the 
world. ' ' 

The  President 's  address  was  a  fitting  finale  to  the  great 
conference.  The  remarks  of  the  Representative  of  the 
Republic  of  Brazil  reflected  the  sentiment  of  the  dele- 
gates present  in  these  words,  ''Freedom  is  a  gift  that  is 
only  given  to  nations  who  know  how  and  are  ready  to 
defend  it.  America  is  destined  to  lead  the  world.  Let 
us  work  together  for  the  principle  of  right  and  justice, 
of  liberty  and  happiness." 

The  European  war  had  fixed  the  period  of  the  renais- 


504  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

sance  or  rebirth  of  Pan-Americanism.  President  Wilson 
was  now  its  guiding  genius,  and  the  Pan-American 
Scientific  Congress  was  the  occasion  of  its  dedication  to 
a  new  service  based  upon  the  principle  of  human  rights 
set  forth  originally  in  the  American  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

By  the  aid  of  the  American  Institute  of  International 
Law,  which  is  composed  of  105  members,  five  from  each 
of  the  twenty-one  American  republics,  the  Pan-American 
Scientific  Congress  adopted  a  Declaration  of  the  Rights 
of  Nations.  The  five  articles  of  the  declaration,  without 
the  preamble  and  citations  of  famous  legal  decisions,  are 
as  follows : 

1.  Every  nation  has  the  right  to  exist,  to  protect,  and 
to  conserve  its  existence ;  but  this  right  neither  implies 
the  right  nor  justifies  the  act  of  the  state  to  protect  itself 
or  to  conserve  its  existence  by  the  commission  of  unlawful 
acts  against  innocent  and  unoffending  states. 

This  right  is  and  is  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  right  to  life  is  understood  in  national  law,  , 
according  to  which  it  is  unlawful  for  a  human  being  to 
take  human  life  unless  it  be  necessary  so  to  do  in  self- 
defense  against  an  unlawful  attack  threatening  the  life 
of  the  party  unlawfully  attacked. 

2.  Every  nation  has  the  right  to  independence  in 
the  sense  that  it  has  a  right  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
and  is  free  to  develop  itself  without  interference  or 
control  from  other  states,  provided  that  in  so  doing  it 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  505 

does  not  interfere  with   or  violate  the   just   rights  of 
other  states. 

3.  Every  nation  is  in  law  and  before  law  the  equal  of 
every  other  state  composing  the  society  of  nations,  and  all 
states  have  the  right  to  claim,  and,  according  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  United  States,  "to 
assume,  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature 's 
God  entitle  them." 

4.  Every  nation  has  the  right  to  territory  within 
defined  boundaries  and  to  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction 
over  this  territory,  and  all  persons,  whether  native  or 
foreign,  found  therein. 

5.  Every  nation  entitled  to  a  right  by  the  law  of 
nations  is  entitled  to  have  that  right  respected  and  pro- 
tected by  all  other  nations,  for  right  and  duty  are  cor- 
relative, and  the  right  of  one  is  the  duty  of  all  to 
observe. 

This  declaration  defines  the  rights  of  neutrals  as  well 
as  of  belligerents,  and  it  might  be  characterized  as  an 
*' International  Declaration  of  Independence." 

Moreover,  this  Congress  created  an  International  High 
Commission  consisting  of  a  National  section  for  each 
country.  These  sections  were  to  meet  from  time  to  time 
in  general  conference,  and  between  meetings  exchange 
their  views  by  correspondence. 

' '  In  pursuance  of  this  plan, ' '  said  Mr.  McAdoo,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  ''the  first  general  meeting  of  the 


506  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

commission  opened  on  April  3  of  this  year  at  Buenos 
Aires.  "With  gratifying  ardor  the  distinguished  body  of 
delegates  representing  twenty  republics  addressed  them- 
selves to  the  consideration  of  projects  presented  for  the 
improvement  of  our  various  national  laws  or  our  sev- 
eral commercial  and  financial  policies.  The  program 
was  a  truly  formidable  one,  embracing  thirteen  different 
subjects,  many  of  which  were  large  enough  to  serve  as 
the  subject  matter  for  an  entire  conference.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  that,  the  conference  worked  with  such  unity  of 
purpose  and  brought  to  its  tasks  such  a  wealth  of  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  and  constructive  genius  that 
it  was  able  to  present  a  body  of  resolutions  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  various  governments  that  will  not  fail 
to  stimulate  a  genuine  wave  of  enthusiasm  for  the  cause 
of  progressive  and  enlightened  commercial  legislation 
in  the  American  Republics." 

Mr.  McAdoo  declared  that  an  effort  is  now  being  made 
to  carry  into  effect  the  recommendations  of  this  High 
Commission.  And  looking  to  that  end  a  Central  Com- 
mittee, with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  as  Chairman,  was  '  *  charged  with  the  carrying  out 
of  the  mandate  of  the  conference  and  given  the  high 
responsibility  of  coordinating  and  directing  the  work  of 
the  National  Sections,  and  of  keeping  in  the  closest  touch 
and  sympathy  with  the  economic  policy  of  the  American 
Governments. ' ' 

Thus  ' '  the  steady  pressure  of  moral  force ' '  was  at  last 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  UNION  5Q7 

breaking  "the  barriers  of  pride  and  prejudice  down, 
and  we  were  triumphing  as  the  friend  of  Latin- America 
sooner  than  we  could  possibly  have  triumphed  as  her 
superior  overlord — 'And  how  much  more  handsomely, 
with  how  much  higher  and  finer  satisfaction  of  con- 
science and  of  honor,'  " 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  NEED  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PREPAREDNESS 

The  more  important  issues  springing  out  of  the 
European  war  soon  began  to  press  heavily  upon  our 
educational  institutions.  President  Wilson,  himself  a 
trained  educationist,  was  quick  to  see  the  need  of 
educational  preparedness  and  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  American  people  to  this  need.  But  how  was  the 
school  affected? 

The  public  school  is  an  instrument  created  by  society 
for  the  purpose  of  preserving  its  ideals  and  institutions 
and  for  promoting  its  own  interests.  The  problem  of 
individual  development  is  a  professional  one,  with  which 
society  in  general  is  unacquainted.  Therefore,  since 
the  beginning  of  recorded  deeds,  there  have  been  two 
aims  in  education :  one  is  social  or  practical,  the  other 
is  individual  or  theoretical.  The  former  is  constantly 
changing  because  it  is  affected  by  every  great  social 
upheaval.  The  latter  is  more  or  less  constant  since 
it  is  concerned  primarily  with  the  native  tendencies 
of  the  individual. 

The  political  and  industrial  revolutions  at  the  close 

of  the  18th  and  the  beginning  of  the  19th  centuries 

508 


EDUCATIONAL  PREPAREDNESS  509 

made  radical  changes  in  all  social  institutions.  Scarcely 
a  man  lives  today  as  his  ancestors  did  before  these 
great  changes  took  place.  As  a  result  we  have  a  pub- 
lic school  system  unlike  the  old  systems.  It  ha-s  a  differ- 
ent organization,  a  different  content,  and  even  a 
different  social  purpose  from  those  of  the  17th  and  first 
half  of  the  18th  centuries. 

But  at  the  beginning  of  the  20th  century,  even  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  European  war,  it  was  observed  and 
noted  that  our  whole  educational  system,  although  it 
was  comparatively  new,  was  ill  adapted  to  meet  the  needs 
of  modern  society.  ^loreover,  it  was  a  matter  of  pro- 
fessional knowledge  that  * '  every  step  taken  in  the  direc- 
tion of  broadening  our  courses  and  differentiating  our 
schools  so  as  better  to  meet  its  needs  has  invariably 
resulted  in  a  rapid  increase  in  attendance" — an  argu- 
ment that  an  untrained  people  is  the  result  of  poor 
educational  opportunities. 

The  great  war  gave  society  a  tremendous  jolt,  and 
men  everywhere  began  to  take  an  inventory  of  the  per- 
manent social  assets  that  could  be  mobilized  for  the 
benefit  of  society.  The  conservatism  of  the  school  stood 
out,  then,  in  bold  relief,  and  the  American  system  came 
under  a  fierce  criticism.  It  was  charged  that  less 
progress  has  been  made  in  education  in  the  last  thirty 
years  than  in  any  other  vocation  or  profession. 

Vocational  education  was  advocated  strongly  before 
the  war,  and  the  Garv^  svstem  was  one  concrete  result  of 


510  WOODHOW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  agitation.  There  were  others  also.  But  it  was  the 
European  war  that  taught  America  how  necessary  it 
is  to  have  ^'a  loyal  entente  between  the  industrial  men, 
the  merchants,  and  the  agriculturalists"  of  a  nation. 
Moreover,  it  became  more  apparent  that  "each  nation 
must  resolve  to  accomplish  profound  modifications  in 
industries,  commerce,  and  culture,"  and  that  the  school 
must  play  a  large  part  in  producing  this  modification. 

Another  industrial  revolution  was  felt  to  be  taking 
place.  New  industries  have  arisen  in  America  because 
of  the  suspension  or  destruction  in  Europe  of  similar 
industries.  Other  nations  had  monopolies  on  goods  es- 
sential to  American  homes  and  American  business.  The 
great  war  cut  off  our  supply  by  destroying  the  accus- 
tomed trade  route,  and  American  genius  and  energy  have 
been  stimulated  to  enter  new  fields. 

American  colleges  and  universities,  instead  of  attack- 
ing vigorously  these  problems,  before  the  war  were 
tributaries  in  a  large  measure  to  European  universities. 
But  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  these  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning  came  also  under  the  fire  of  criticism, 
and  a  readjustment  was  begun. 

President  Wilson  advised  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try that  the  school  must  play  a  tremendous  part 
not  only  in  perfecting  the  program  of  the  Ncav 
Freedom,  but  also  in  making  the  nation  sure  of 
its  military,  commercial,  and  industrial  prepared- 
ness.    He  referred  in  his   message   to   the   need  of 


EDUCATIONAL  PREPAREDNESS  51I 

giving  federal  aid  and  stimulation  to  industrial  and 
vocational  education  "as  we  have  long  done  in  the  large 
field  of  our  agricultural  industry."  The  Smith-Lever 
bill,  referred  to  elsewhere,  was  the  product  of  the  long 
agitation  for  federal  aid  to  agricultural  industry. 

*^We  sliould  study  more  carefully,''  lie  said, 
**than  they  have  hitherto  been  studied  the  right 
adaptation  of  our  economic  arrangements  to 
changing  conditions. 

And  again,  ^^The  most  we  can  do  is  to  make 
certain  that  we  have  the  necessary  instrumentali- 
ties of  information  constantly  at  our  service,  so 
that  we  may  be  sure  that  we  know  exactly  what 
we  are  dealing  with  when  we  come  to  act,  if  it 
should  be  necessary  to  act  at  all.  We  must  first 
certainly  know  what  it  is  that  we  are  seeking  to 
adapt  ourselves  to." 

Here  was  a  new  field  for  the  colleges  and  universities 
to  enter.  It  was  pointed  out  that  other  nations  had 
institutions  for  the  study  of  world  trade,  and  that  they 
were  organized  with  a  corps  of  highly  trained  economists 
to  instruct  the  people  concerning  trade  possibilities  and 
difficulties,  and  industrial  needs.  The  Tariff  Commis- 
sion proposed  by  the  President  would  in  a  measure  serve 
the  purpose  of  such  an  institution.  But  that  would  not 
relieve,  it  would  increase    the  obligation  imposed  upon 


512  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

our  colleges  and  universities  to  make  investigation  and 
give  instruction  in  this  field  of  endeavor. 

As  the  discussion  of  this  point  increased,  the  criticism 
of  the  American  school  system  increased,  and  unusual 
modifications  of  its  content  and  even  of  its  organization 
were  earnestly  pressed.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
in  response  to  this  new  demand,  recommended  that  Con- 
gress increase  very  largely  its  appropriation  to  the 
Bureau  of  Education  in  order  to  make  it  a  more  efficient 
agency.  Others  were  advocating  that  the  Bureau  of 
Education  should  be  converted  into  a  great  national  uni- 
versity. Thus  military  preparedness,  commercial  pre- 
paredness, and  industrial  preparedness  had  made  educa- 
tional preparedness  an  important  issue  in  the  nation — 
another  evidence  of  the  influence  of  a  great  social  pres- 
sure upon  the  school. 

Mr.  Wilson  made  his  spectacular  and  very  important 
tour  of  the  country  soon  after  the  64th  Congress  con- 
vened. His  main  theme  was  the  need  of  military 
preparedness.  But  he  argued  also  that  America  needed 
educational  preparedness  as  well  because  of  the  need 
of  military  and  industrial  preparedness. 

**  There  are  two  sides  to  the  question  of 
preparation/*  lie  said.  ^^ There  is  not  merely  the 
military  side,  there  is  the  industrial  side.  And 
the  ideal  which  I  have  in  mind  is  this,  gentle- 
men: we  ought  to  have  in  this  country  a  great 


EDUCATIONAL  PREPAREDNESS  5^3 

system  of  industrial  and  vocational  education, 
under  federal  g-uidance  and  with  federal  aid,  in 
which  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  youth  of 
this  country  will  be  given  training  in  the  skillful 
use  and  application  of  the  principles  of  science 
in  maneuvre  and  business.  And  it  will  be 
perfectly  feasible  and  highly  desirable  to  add  to 
that  and  combine  with  it  such  a  training  in  the 
mechanism  and  use  and  care  of  arms,  in  the 
sanitation  of  camp,  in  the  simpler  forms  of 
maneuvre  and  organization,  as  will  make  these 
men  industrially  efficient  and  individually  service- 
able for  national  defense. 

''The  point  about  such  a  system  is  that  its 
emphasis  will  lie  on  the  industrial  and  civil  side 
of  life;  and  that,  like  all  the  rest  of  America, 
the  use  of  force  will  only  be  in  the  background 
and  as  the  last  resort,  so  that  men  will  think  first 
of  their  families  and  their  daily  work,  of  their 
service  in  the  economic  fields  of  the  country,  and 
only  last  of  all  in  their  service  to  the  nation  as 
soldiers  and  men  at  arms.  That  is  the  ideal  of 
America.  But,  gentlemen,  you  cannot  create  such 
a  system  over  night.  You  cannot  create  such  a 
system  rapidly.  It  has  got  to  be  built  up,  and 
I  hope  it  will  be  built  up  by  slow  and  effective 


514  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

stages.  And  there  is  something  to  be  done  in 
the  meantime.  We  must  see  to  it  that  a  suffi- 
cient body  of  citizens  is  given  the  kind  of  train- 
ing which  will  make  them  efficient  for  call  into  the 
field  in  case  of  necessity.'' 

He  argued  that  it  was  perfectly  feasible  to  combme 
instruction  that  would  work  both  for  military  and  in- 
dustrial preparedness. 

*'A  nation,"  he  said,  '^should  be  ashamed  to 
use  an  inefficient  instrument  when  it  can  make 
its  instrument  efficient  for  everything  that  it 
needs  to  employ  it  for,  and  it  can  do  it  along 
with  the  magnifying  and  ennobling  and  quicken- 
ing of  the  tasks  of  peace. 

^  ^  But  w^e  have  to  create  the  schools  and  develop 
the  schools  to  do  these  things,  and  we  cannot  at 
present  wait  for  the  slower  processes.  We  must 
go  at  once  to  the  task  of  training  a  very  con- 
siderable body  of  men  to  the  use  of  arms  and 
the  life  of  camps,  and  we  can  do  so  upon  one 
condition,  and  one  condition  only.  The  test  of 
what  we  are  proposing  is  not  going  to  be  the 
action  of  Congress — it  is  going  to  be  the  response 
of  the  country;  it  is  going  to  be  the  volunteering 
of  the  men  to  take  the  training,  and  the  willing- 
ness   of   their   employers    to   see   to    it   that   no 


EDUCATIONAL  PREPAREDNESS  5^5 

obstacles  are  put  in  the  way  of  their  volunteering. 

*'It  will  be  up  to  the  young  men  of  this  coun- 
try and  the  men  who  employ  them,  and  then  we 
shall  know  how  far  it  is  true  that  America  wishes 
to  prepare  herself  for  national  defense.  It  is  not 
a  matter  of  sentiment,  but  a  matter  of  hard 
practice. 

*'Are  the  men  going  to  come  out,  and  are  those 
who  employ  them  going  to  facilitate  their  coming 
out!  I  for  one  believe  that  they  will.  There 
are  many  selfish  influences  at  work  in  this  coun- 
try, as  in  every  other,  but,  when  it  comes  to  the 
larger  view,  America  can  produce  the  substance 
of  patriotism  as  abundantly  as  any  other  country 
under  God's  sun.'' 

Military  preparedness  was  the  one  problem  that  was 
pressing  hardest  for  solution.  The  schools  have  not 
escaped  its  influence,  and  a  part  of  the  great  debate 
still  goes  on  among  teachers  and  school  boards  as  to 
whether  the  public  school  shall  incorporate  military 
training  in  its  courses  or  not.  How  can  it  be  taught 
consistently  in  the  same  school  where  universal  peace 
is  taught?  How  much  time  shall  be  devoted  to  it? 
How  can  military  training  be  coordinated  with  indus- 
trial training?  These  are  some  of  the  questions  that 
confront  school  officials  and  school  teachers. 


516  VVOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

Industrial  and  military  training,  however,  are  not  the 
only  phase  of  this  educational  preparedness  that  eon- 
fronts  the  nation.  Pan-Americanism  brings  to  the  Amer- 
ican school  system  another  problem.  The  close  students 
of  educational  practice  in  this  country  have  been  ob- 
serving for  the  past  two  years  some  symptoms  which 
indicate  that  our  schools  and  colleges  are  already  affected 
by  this  Pan-American  ideal.  Spanish,  unknown  to  most 
of  the  high  schools  of  the  nation,  has  been  creeping 
gradually  and  modestly  into  the  curriculum  in  sections 
of  the  nation  where  foreign  influences  have  been  least 
apparent.  Moreover,  the  culture  of  the  Spanish- Amer- 
ican races,  their  governmental  institutions,  and  their 
economic  resources,  have  been  receiving  significant  atten- 
tion in  many  of  our  colleges  and  universities. 

"The  germs  of  Pan- Americanism  must  be  introduced 
in  the  class  room,"  declared  a  delegate  to  the  Pan- 
American  Scientific  Congress.  "It  is  a  false  patriotism 
to  inculcate  in  the  minds  of  children  the  idea  that  in  all 
comparison  of  their  native  land  with  foreign  countries 
the  former  always  should  be  given  the  advantage.  This 
false  patriotism  will  cause  the  countries  to  cheat  them- 
selves out  of  the  advantage  of  cooperation  and  reciprocal 
instruction."  It  was  argued,  furthermore,  that  the 
Americas  must  cooperate  intellectually,  and  President 
Nicholas  ]\Iurray  Butler  of  Columbia  University  replied 
in  like  spirit  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  colleges  and  the 
universities  to  foster  this  intellectual  unioi\ 


EDUCATIONAL  PREPAREDNESS  517 

American  schools  were  really  accused  of  teaching  a 
false   patriotism   and   depriving   American   children   of 
''the  advantages  of  cooperation  and  reciprocal  instruc- 
tion."   "The  so-called  educated  youth  of  America"  in 
some  respects,  it  was  charged,  are  inferior  to  students 
of  a  similar  grade  even  in  South  America.  ''The  latter," 
it  is  said,  "speaks  commonly  French  and  often  English, 
besides  his  native  tongue,  speaks  them  fluently  and  not 
stammeringly.     In  every  Latin  country,  indeed,  French 
is  a  second  mother  tongue  to  the  well-to-do.     Thanks  to 
our  lingering  provinciality,  and  the  admirable  linguistic 
uselessness   of   most   of   our   schools    and   colleges,   the 
majority  of  'educated'  North  Americans  are  unilingual. 
And,  lacking  the  very  A  B  C  of  business  intercourse,  we 
expect  to  compete  successfully  in  the  other  Americas  with 
Englishmen,  Germans,  Frenchmen,  who  are  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  language,  commercial  and  social  cus- 
toms, and  institutions  of  those  countries." 

If  North  America,  therefore,  is  to  understand  South 
America,  a  condition  absolutely  necessary  before  there 
can  be  any  lasting  Pan-American  Union,  the  colleges  and 
universities  have  an  intellectual  task  to  perform  before 
this  great  program  is  completed.  But  the  great  war  has 
discovered  South  America  to  North  America,  and  Presi- 
dent Wilson,  in  speaking  to  the  delegates  of  the  Financial 
Conference  in  May,  1915,  said  what  others  have  felt  since. 

''It  is  even  a  source  of  mortification  to  me/' 


518  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

lie  said,  **tliat  it  should  have  required  a  crisis 
of  the  world  to  show  the  Americans  how  truly 
they  were  neighbors  to  one  another.  If  there  is 
any  one  happy  circumstance,  gentlemen,  arising 
out  of  the  present  distressing  circumstances  of 
the  world,  it  is  that  it  has  revealed  us  to  one 
another;  it  has  shown  us  what  it  means  to  be 
neighbors.  And  I  cannot  help  harboring  the 
hope,  the  very  high  hope,  that  by  this  commerce 
of  minds  with  one  another,  as  well  as  commerce 
in  goods,  we  may  show  the  world  in  part  the  path 
to  peace.'' 

Woodrow  Wilson  was  closing  his  administration.  The 
first  half  was  devoted  to  the  task  of  restoring  the  rule 
of  right  and  justice  in  the  nation,  and  in  its  relations 
with  foreign  nations.  The  second  half  was  concerned 
with  the  European  war :  the  task  of  preserving  peace  in 
America,  and  of  holding  the  mad  nations  of  the  world 
to  some  standard,  coupled  with  the  greatest  domestic 
problem  that  has  confronted  this  nation  since  the  Civil 
War, — how  to  prepare  the  nation  socially,  industrially, 
and  educationally  to  meet  the  great  issues  born  of  the 
war.  In  looking  back  over  his  achievements  as  he  faced 
another  political  campaign,  he  declared : 

**I  am  willing,  no  matter  what  my  personal 
fortune  may  be,  to  play  for  the  verdict  of  man- 


EDUCATIONAL  PEEPAHEDNESS  519 

kind.  Personally,  it  will  be  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence to  me  what  the  verdict  on  the  7tli  of  Novem- 
ber is,  provided  I  have  any  degree  of  confidence 
that  when  a  later  jury  sits,  I  shall  get  their 
judgment  in  my  favor,  not  in  my  favor  personally 
— what  difference  does  that  make! — but  in  my 
favor  as  an  honest  and  conscientious  spokesman 
of  a  great  nation." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
THE  MAN  IN  ACTION 

Woodrow  Wilson,  the  man  in  action,  is  intensely 
human.  He  loves  the  simple  life  and  his  habits  are  those 
of  the  plain  men  of  the  country.  He  hates  the  silk  hat 
and  the  conventional  dress,  and  he  is  happiest,  it  is  said, 
in  his  working  clothes.  It  was  this  preference  for  the 
unconventional,  for  simplicity  and  directness,  that  led 
him  to  dispense  with  the  inaugural  ball,  and  to  upset  the 
precedents  of  a  century  by  going  to  Congress  to  deliver 
his  first  message.  And  he  disarmed  those  who  thought 
this  act  savored  of  royalty  by  introducing  himself  as 
*'a  human  being." 

He  does  not  give  much  consideration  to  the  way  his 
acts  will  be  seen  through  the  eyes  of  others.  Disliking 
form  and  ceremonies  and  preferring  the  simple  life,  he 
declined,  without  even  thinking  of  it,  an  election  to  the 
Chevy  Chase  Country  Club,  and  was  amazed  next  day 
to  find  that  he  had  committed  a  mortal  sin  against  high 
society. 

The  ceremonies  that  surrounded  him  in  the 
White  House  amused  him.     **For  example/'  he 

520 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  521 

said,  *Hake  matters  of  this  sort:  I  will  not  say 
whether  it  is  wise  or  unwise,  simple  or  grave, 
but  certain  precedents  have  been  established  that 
in  certain  companies  the  President  must  leave 
the  room  first,  and  the  people  must  give  way  to 
him.  They  must  not  sit  down  if  he  is  standing 
up.  It  is  a  very  uncomfortable  thing  to  have 
to  think  of  all  the  other  people  every  time  I  get 
up  and  sit  down,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  so 
that  when  I  get  guests  in  my  own  house  and  the 
public  is  shut  out,  I  adjourn  being  President  and 
take  leave  to  be  a  gentleman.  If  they  draw  back 
and  insist  upon  my  doing  something  first,  I 
firmly  decline." 

Moreover,  he  protested  with  a  show  of  humor  against 
enforced  presidential  conventionalties  that  kept  him  vir- 
tually a  prisoner  in  the  White  House,  and  he  ridiculed 
the  customs  that  placed  him  in  the  ''same  category  as 
the  National  Museum,  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  or 
the  Washington  Monument." 

'^If  I  only  knew  an  exhibition  appearance  to 
assume,"  he  said  once,  speaking  humorously  of 
this  custom,  '^I  would  like  to  have  it  pointed 
out,  so  that  I  could  practice  it  before  the  looking 
glass  and  see  if  I  could  not  look  like  the  Monu- 


522  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ment.  Being  regarded  as  a  national  exhibit,  it 
will  be  much  simpler  than  being  shaken  hands 
with  by  the  whole  United  States. ' ' 

He  did  not  exaggerate  the  Washington  habit 
when  he  declared  that  if  he  *  turned  up  any- 
where'^ in  Washington  he  was  **  personally  con- 
ducted to  beat  the  band''  by  ^Hhe  Curator,  the 
Assistant  Curator  and  every  other  blooming 
official,  and  they  show  so  much  attention  that  I 
don't  see  the  building." 

In  speaking  of  the  Presidency,  he  said : 

*'I  feel  like  a  person  appointed  for  a  certain 
length  of  time  to  administer  that  office,  and  I 
feel  just  as  much  outside  of  it  at  this  moment 
as  I  did  before  I  was  elected  to  it.  I  feel  just 
as  much  outside  of  it  as  I  still  feel  outside  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States.  No  man 
could  imagine  himself  the  government  of  the 
United  States ;  but  he  could  understand  that  some 
part  of  his  fellow  citizens  had  told  him  to  go 
and  run  a  certain  part  of  it  the  best  he  knew 
how.  That  would  not  make  him  the  government 
itself  or  the  thing  itself.  It  would  just  make  him 
responsible  for  running  it  the  best  he  knew  how. 
The  machine  is  so  much  greater  than  himself, 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  523 

the  office  is  so  much  greater  than  himself,  the 
office  is  so  much  greater  than  he  can  ever  be, 
and  the  most  he  can  do  is  to  look  grave  enough 
and  self-possessed  enough  to  seem  to  fill  it. 

**I  can  hardly  refrain  every  now  and  then 
from  tipping  the  public  a  wink  as  much  as  to 
say,  *It  is  only  *^me''  that  is  inside  this  thing. 
I  know  perfectly  well  that  I  will  have  to  get  out 
presently.  I  know  then  that  I  will  look  just  my 
own  proper  size,  and  that  for  the  time  being  the 
proportions  are  somewhat  refracted  and  mis- 
represented to  the  eye  because  of  the  large  thing  I 
am  inside  of,  from  which  I  am  tipping  you  this 
wink.'  " 

Himself  a  human  being,  he  has  been  in  sympathetic 
touch  with  the  sentiments  of  the  American  people.  He  is 
the  real  leader  of  a  great  democracy  because  he  feels  in 
his  own  heart  the  needs  and  desires  and  demands  of  the 
American  people.  He  has  sought  to  make  their  spirit 
his  spirit,  and  their  conscience  his  conscience. 

**I  am  diligently  trying,''  he  said,  ^^to  collect 
all  the  brains  that  are  borrowable  in  order  that 
I  will  not  make  more  blunders  than  it  is  inevitable 
a  man  should  make  who  has  great  limitations  of 
knowledge  and  capacity." 


524  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

He  illustrated  his  method  of  working  with  Congress 
by  the  following  story : 

*^We  had  once  when  I  was  president  of  a 
university,  to  revise  a  whole  course  of  study. 
A  committee,  I  believe  of  fourteen  men,  was 
constituted  by  the  faculty  of  the  university  to 
report  a  revised  curriculum.  Naturally,  the  men 
who  had  the  most  ideas  on  the  subject  were  picked 
out,  and  naturally,  each  man  came  with  a  very 
definite  notion  of  the  kind  of  revision  he  wanted, 
and  one  of  the  first  discoveries  we  made  was  that 
no  two  of  us  wanted  exactly  the  same  revision. 

**I  went  in  there  with  all  my  war  paint  on  to 
g'et  the  revision  I  wanted  and,  I  dare  say,  though 
it  was  perhaps  more  skilfully  concealed,  the 
other  men  had  their  war  paint  on,  too.  We  dis- 
cussed that  matter  for  six  months.  The  result 
was  a  report  which  no  one  of  us  had  conceived 
or  foreseen,  but  with  which  we  were  all  absolutely 
satisfied.  There  was  not  a  man  who  had  not 
learned  in  that  committee  more  than  he  had  ever 
known  before  about  the  subject,  who  had  not 
willingly  revised  his  prepossession,  and  who  was 
not  proud  to  be  a  participant  in  a  genuine  piece 
of  common  counsel.** 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  525 

A  careful  review  of  his  speeches  from  his  inaugural 
address  to  the  completion  of  his  program  reveals  little 
of  the  fault  finding,  scarcely  no  abuse,  but  always  an 
appeal  to  those  finer  centers  where  patriotism  abides. 
In  facing  a  group  of  business  men,  he  declared  emphatic- 
ally that  certain  men  did  deliberately  go  about  to  set  up 
private  monopoly  in  this  country.  But  he  appealed  to 
their  patriotism  to  come  and  help  remove  the  evil.  When 
the  lobbyists,  those  ''self-appointed  trustees,"  were 
standing  in  the  way  of  the  progress  of  legislation,  he 
boldly  and  vigorously  brushed  them  aside.  But  in  his 
addresses  there  are  found  practically  no  references  to 
''malefactors  of  great  wealth"  or  to  "robber  barons" 
of  large  industries. 

He  is  a  good  psychologist,  using  the  power  of  sug- 
gestion to  direct  the  thought  of  the  nation  into  patriotic 
channels,  rather  than  throwing  evil  on  the  defensive  and 
gaining  for  it  reinforcements  by  holding  it  up  before  the 
public.  He  was  constantly  holding  up,  instead,  the  vir- 
tues of  the  statesmen  who  helped  to  make  the  good  that 
once  existed  and  should  now  exist  in  the  nation,  and  he 
seemed  to  draw  his  inspiration  for  patriotic  utterances 
from  the  glory  of  men  individually  and  collectively  who 
set  up  this  nation  on  the  rights  of  man. 

His  habits  of  work  are  very  interesting.  A  daily  pro- 
gram of  his  official  acts  was  published  by  James  Hay,  Jr., 
in  the  American  Magazine,  as  follows : 

"His  personal   stenographer,   C.   L.   Swem,   who  wa«s 


526  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

with  him  in  New  Jersey,  reports  at  the  study  in  the 
White  House  proper  at  8 :55,  at  which  time  the  President 
dictates  replies  to  the  important  letters  which  have  been 
received  at  the  White  House  offices  the  day  before.  At 
ten  o'clock  he  takes  his  place  at  his  desk  in  his  private 
office  in  the  White  House  offices.  Between  ten  and  ten- 
thirty  he  attends  to  whatever  routine  work  is  possible 
before  he  begins  to  keep  the  appointments  he  or  his  secre- 
tary has  made  several  days  before.  Each  caller  usually 
gets  five  minutes,  some  of  them  three,  and  a  few  fifteen. 
He  keeps  a  card  on  his  desk  showing  the  list  of  appoint- 
ments, and  checks  off  with  his  own  hand  each  appoint- 
ment as  it  is  kept.  (I  saw  one  of  these  cards  on  which  he 
had  run  his  pencil  through  the  name  of  a  prominent 
politician  and  had  written  after  the  name  in  blue  pencil, 
'He  did  not  come.'  That  'He  did  not  come'  looked 
ominous.) 

*'At  12:59  the  President,  having  concluded  the  ap- 
pointments, leaves  the  office  and  goes  to  the  White  House 
for  his  one-o  'clock  luncheon. 

"At  two  o'clock  he  receives  in  the  East  Room  delega- 
tions of  tourists  who  want  to  shake  his  hand,  and,  if  it 
is  necessary,  he  has  a  long  conference  with  some  member 
of  the  Cabinet  or  a  diplomat.  After  that,  he  plays  golf, 
takes  a  walk  through  the  shopping  district  of  Washing- 
ton, or  goes  for  an  automobile  ride. 

' '  At  seven  o  'clock  he  has  dinner. 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION 


527 


( i 


He  goes  to  bed  between  ten  o'clock  and  midnight, 
never  after  midnight." 

The  President 's  office  methods  are  described  as  remark- 
able for  accuracy  and  exactness.  He  files  all  his  im- 
portant papers  with  his  own  hands  in  a  filing  case  just 
back  of  his  chair  in  the  White  House  study.  His  powers 
of  concentration  are  great,  and  after  devoting  his  mind 
entirely  to  a  single  subject,  or  dictating  a  speech  or  a 
paper,  or  writing  it  out  in  shorthand  and  then  reading 
it  to  his  stenographer,  practically  no  changes  are 
required. 

Punctuality,  alertness,  candor,  and  firmness  are  char- 
acteristic of  the  man.  If  you  have  an  engagement  with 
him  he  keeps  it  to  the  second  and  resents  it  if  you  do  not. 
If  you  suggest  a  new  idea,  he  quietly  grasps  it  and  is 
ready  to  use  it.  In  this  way  he  collects  all  the  brains 
available.  If  you  have  an  engagement  with  him  for  five 
minutes,  when  you  have  talked  4.9  minutes,  he  'Svill  cer- 
tainly give  the  matter  careful  consideration, "  he  is  ' '  glad 
you  offered  the  suggestion,"  and  is  ''sorry  you  can't 
stay  longer  for  it  is  very  interesting."  Out  you  go 
unoff ended,  and  as  you  leave,  he  jots  down  in  shorthand 
for  future  consideration  the  main  points  of  the  discus- 
sion, and  is  ready  for  the  next  man.  It  is  said  that  he  is 
an  expert  stenographer  and  that  a  page  from  his  note 
book  is  "  as  clear  and  clean  cut  as  a  piece  of  engraving. ' ' 

Mr.  Wilson  says  himself  that  he  never  stops  working 


528  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

on  his  important  messages  to  Congress  until  he  is  ready 
to  deliver  them.  This  story  which  he  tells  is  an  illus- 
tration of  this  fact : 

**I  was  amused  the  other  day,"  he  said,  *^at  a 
remark  that  Senator  Newlands  made.  I  had  read 
him  the  trust  message  that  I  was  to  deliver  to 
Congress  some  ten  days  before  I  delivered  it, 
and  I  never  stop  Moctoring^  things  of  that  kind 
until  the  day  I  have  to  deliver  them.  When  he 
heard  it  read  to  Congress  he  said:  'I  think  it 
was  better  than  it  was  when  vou  read  it  to  me.' 
I  said:  *  Senator,  there  is  one  thing  which  I  do 
not  think  you  understand.  I  not  only  use  all  the 
brains  I  have,  but  all  I  can  borrow,  and  I  have 
borrowed  a  lot  since  I  read  it  to  you  first. '  ' ' 

He  moves  about  his  tasks  with  a  briskness  that  sur- 
prises, and  a  hearty  good  cheer  that  pleases,  but  with  a 
poise  and  directness  that  carry  conviction.  In  him  there 
is  nothing  of  the  demagogue,  no  bluff  and  bluster,  no 
acrobatic  gyrations  or  playing  to  the  galleries.  His 
private  life  is  simplicity  itself.  He  is  a  polished  gentle- 
man, but  thoroughly  democratic  and  intensely  human. 
A  scholar  of  the  first  rank,  a  rapid  thinker  of  extraor- 
dinary mental  alertness,  he  moves  with  precision,  cour- 
age, and  purpose.  He  is  slow  to  make  promises,  but 
quick  to  fulfill  those  he  makes.  He  has  a  facility  and 
a    felicity    of     expression     that    quickly    charms    his 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  529 

hearers;  square-shouldered  and  manly,  he  looks 
you  straight  in  the  eye,  charms  you  with  his  mellow 
musical  voice,  eager  interest,  and  marvelous  fund  of 
information.  He  is  a  dynamo  of  energy,  a  storage  battery 
of  power.  You  are  conscious  that  you  are  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  great  personality,  a  man  worthy  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wilson  has  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  and  both  his 
conversation  and  his  speeches  abound  with  stories.  A 
certain  committee  from  New  York  called  to  convince  him 
that  the  Banking  and  Currency  Laws  which  had  then 
been  in  force  about  a  year  should  be  amended.  The  chair- 
man of  the  committee  finally  said : 

' '  Sir,  that  law  is  breaking  down  the  power  and  control 
of  Wall  Street  as  the  money  center  of  the  country. 


5> 


^^That  reminds  me  of  a  story,''  said  the  Presi- 
dent, as  the  unfailing  twinkle  came  to  his  eye. 
**A  stranger  was  visiting  a  great  Cathedral  in 
London.  He  gazed  in  wonder  upon  its  magnifi- 
cence, and  said  to  the  keeper  who  was  an  Irish- 
man, *  Doesn't  this  beat  the  devil!'  The  Irishman 
promptly  replied,  'That's  what  we  built  it  for, 
Sir.'  " 

In  speaking  of  the  vanity  of  the  ofiice  holder 
in  Washington  he  said  once:  "A  friend  of  mine 
says  that  every  man  who  takes  office  in  Washing- 


530  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ton  either  grows  or  swells,  and  w^hen  I  give  a  man 
an  office,  I  watch  him  carefully  to  see  whether  he 
is  swelling  or  growing.  The  mischief  of  it  is 
that  when  they  swell  they  do  not  swell  enough 
to  burst.  If  they  w^ould  only  swell  to  the  point 
where  you  might  insert  a  pin  And  let  the  gases 
out,  it  would  be  a  great  delight.  I  do  not  know 
any  pastime  that  would  be  more  diverting,  except 
that  the  gases  are  probably  poisonous,  so  that  we 
would  have  to  stand  from  under.'' 

During  his  fight  against  the  lobbyists  and  the  monop- 
olists he  came  in  for  a  great  deal  of  criticism  and  abuse. 
His  leadership  had  not  been  fully  established,  and  his 
popularity  was  then  at  its  lowest  ebb.  In  describing  his 
feelings  to  newspaper  men,  he  said: 

*^  There  are  blessed  intervals  when  I  forget  by 
one  means  or  another  that  I  am  President  of  the 
United  States.  One  means  by  which  I  forget  is 
to  get  a  rattling  good  detective  story,  get  after 
some  imaginary  offender  and  chase  him  all  over — 
preferably  any  continent  but  this,  because  the 
various  parts  of  this  continent  are  becoming  pain- 
fully suggestive  to  me.  The  postoffices,  and  many 
other  things  which  stir  reminiscence  have  *  sicklied 
them  o'er  with  a  pale  cast  of  thought.'     There 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  53I 

are  postoffices  which  I  can't  think  of  without 
trembling  with  the  knowledge  of  all  the  heart- 
burnings there  were  in  connection  with  getting 
somebody  installed  as  postmaster. '^ 

The  President's  ability  to  use  classic  English  is  well 
recognized,  but  there  is  a  story  that  upon  one  occasion 
he  made  a  short  cut  to  the  point.  A  battle  royal  was 
raging  in  the  House.  The  contest  was  close  and  bitter. 
A  congressman  wanted  to  be  known  as  an  ''administra- 
tion man ' '  because  while  the  people  at  home  didn  't  know 
the  details,  yet  they  believed  in  the  President  and  ac- 
cepted without  question  all  for  which  he  stood.  The 
congressman  wanted  to  hedge,  so  he  called  upon  the 
President  and  said,  "Mr.  President,  of  course,  I  am  for 
you  all  the  way,  but  I  think  you  might  recede  a  little  to 
please  some  of  my  constituents  who  don't  agree  with  us. 
Won't  you?" 

Mr.  Wilson  had  been  holding  the  fort  almost  alone  for 
days  and  he  had  reached  the  limit  of  his  patience.  No 
sooner  had  the  congressman  ceased  his  pleading  than  the 
President  turned  suddenly  upon  him  and  pounding 
heavily  upon  the  table  exclaimed: 

^^'m  right!    No!" 

And  he  clothed  this  negative  with  such  force  that,  so 
the  story  goes,  the  distinguished  congressman,  utterly 


532  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

frightened,  did  not  put  on  his  hat  until  he  had  reached 
the  House,  and  without  taking  his  seat,  he  made  a  speech 
in  favor  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  considered  an  excellent  judge  of  human 
nature.  He  is  so  human  himself  that  it  is  easy  for  a 
man  of  his  training  to  detect  the  real  human  being  as 
it  moves  in  and  out  among  the  artificial  figures  and  de- 
humanizing conventionalists.  He  speaks  often  of  the 
value  to  the  world  of  the  disinterested  man. 

^^Tlie  only  thing  that  saves  the  world  is  the 
handful  of  disinterested  men  in  it.'^  And  he 
declared  that  he  was  ever  on  the  watch  for  such 
men. 

*^I  have  found  a  few  disinterested  men,''  he 
said,  *^and  I  tie  to  those  men  as  you  would  tie  to 
an  anchor.  I  tie  to  them  as  you  would  tie  to 
the  voices  of  conscience,  if  you  could  be  sure 
that  you  always  heard  them.  Men  who  have  no 
axes  to  grind,  men  who  love  America  so  that 
they  would  give  their  lives  for  it  and  never  care 
whether  anybody  heard  that  they  had  given  their 
lives  for  it,  willing  to  die  in  obscurity  if  only 
they  might  serve — those  are  the  men.  Nations, 
like  those  men,  are  the  nations  that  are  going  to 
serve  the  world  and  save  it.'' 


THE  :max  in  action  533 

He  had  no  patience  with  the  stand-patter,  the  reac- 
tionary, or  the  so-called  conservative,  ''these  hopeless 
dams  against  the  stream"  who  were  often  urging  him  to 
let  things  alone,  and  let  all  the  forces  of  evil  as  well  as 
good  work  on  in  their  accustomed  way. 

**I  remember/'  he  said,  ^'wlien  I  was  President 
of  a  university,  a  man  said  to  me:  ^Good 
Heavens,  man,  why  don't  you  leave  something 
alone  and  let  it  stay  the  way  it  is?'  and  I  said: 
^If  you  wdll  guarantee  to  me  that  it  will  stay 
the  w^ay  it  is,  I  wall  let  it  alone;  but  if  you  knew 
anything,  you  would  know  that  if  you  leave  a 
thing  alone  it  will  not  stay  wdiere  it  is.  It  will 
develop,  and  will  either  go  in  the  WTong  direction 
or  decav.' 

*^I  reminded  him  of  this  thing  that  the  English 
w^riter  said,  that  if  you  want  to  keep  a  w^hite  post 
white,  you  cannot  let  it  alone.  It  will  get  black. 
You  have  to  keep  doing  something  to  it.  In  that 
instance  you  have  got  to  paint  it  wdiite  frequently 
in  order  to  keep  it  w^hite,  because  there  are  forces 
at  work  that  will  get  the  better  of  you.  Not  only 
will  it  turn  black,  but  the  forces  of  moisture  and 
other  forces  of  nature  will  penetrate  the  white 
paint  and  get  at  the  fibre  of  the  wood,  and  decay 


534  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

will  set  in,  and  the  next  time  you  try  to  paint  it 
you  will  find  that  there  is  nothing  but  punk  to 
paint. 

*^Then  you  will  remember  the  Red  Queen  in 
*  Alice  in  Wonderland'  or  *  Alice  Through  the 
Looking  Glass' — I  forget  which,  it  has  been  so 
long  since  I  read  them — who  takes  Alice  by  the 
hand,  and  they  rush  along  at  a  great  pace,  and 
then,  when  they  stop,  Alice  looks  around  and 
says,  *But  we  are  just  where  we  were  when  we 
started.'  *Yes,'  says  the  Red  Queen,  *you  have 
to  run  twice  as  fast  as  that  to  get  anywhere 
else.' 

**That  is  also  true,  gentlemen,  of  the  world  and 
of  affairs.  You  have  got  to  run  fast  merely  to 
stay  where  you  are,  and  in  order  to  get  any- 
where you  have  got  to  run  twice  as  fast  as  that. 
That  is  what  people  do  not  realize.  That  is  the 
mischief  of  these  hopeless  dams  against  the 
stream  known  as  reactionaries,  and  standpatters, 
and  other  words  of  obloquy.  That  is  what  is  the 
matter  with  them:  they  are  not  even  staying 
where  they  were.  They  are  sinking  further  and 
further  back  in  what  will  some  time  comfortably 
close  over  their  heads  as  the  black  waters  of 
oblivion.     I  sometimes  imagine  that  I  see  their 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  535 

heads  going  clown,  and  I  am  not  inclined  even 
to  throw  them  a  life  preserver.  The  sooner  they 
disappear  the  better.  We  need  their  places  for 
people  who  are  awake ;  and  we  particularly  need 
now,  gentlemen,  men  who  will  divest  themselves 
of  party  passion  and  of  personal  preference  and 
will  tiy  to  think  in  the  terms  of  America.'' 

The  man  who  is  happiest  in  old  clothes  and  hates  a 
silk  hat  is  the  same  man  who  meets  a  suspicious  congress- 
man and  conquers  him,  not  by  threats  or  bluster,  it  is 
said,  but  by  telling  him  with  frank  simplicity  what  he 
thinks  ought  to  be  done.  The  lobbyists  in  Washington 
always  expecting  to  find  a  politician  ' '  playing  the  game ' ' 
and  always  looking  for  the  vulnerable  spot  in  his  play, 
found  themselves  baffled  and  conquered  by  the  Presi- 
dent's method  of  fighting.  He  does  not  adopt  this 
method  as  tactics ;  he  acts  in  this  way,  it  is  said,  because 
this  is  Woodrow  Wilson,  the  man  h^'mself.  He  knows 
no  other  way. 

*^I  cannot  make  myself  over;  you  must  take 
me  as  you  find  me,"  he  said  once. 

He  wins  because  he  is  prepared.  Intellectual  con- 
tests are  easy  because  of  his  well  disciplined  mind. 
He  has  read  more  widely  and  thought  more  accu- 
rately,   as    a    rule,    than    any    antagonist    he    meets 


536  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

at  home  or  abroad.  Moreover,  he  has  an  inher- 
ent and  life  long  preference  for  plainness  and 
directness,  and  for  simple  things.  This  is  a  comple- 
mentary side  of  the  same  characteristics  which  make  his 
political  methods  so  direct.  Herein  lies  the  secret  of 
much  of  his  power. 

He  knows  the  history  and  the  science  of  government 
with  an  intimacy  few  men  have  possessed.  It  was  the 
possession  of  this  accurate  knowledge  that  made  it  pos- 
sible for  him  to  confound  the  bankers  when  they  came 
to  ask  him  to  consent  to  their  naming  representatives 
on  the  Federal  Reserve  Board. 

After  all  is  said  and  done,  in  times  like  this,  the  real 
determining  factor  is  the  man — the  masterful  man  in 
action.  Americans  clamor  for  the  man  who  is  safe  and 
will  not  lead  astray,  the  leader  who  stands  for  America 
first,  the  master  to  whom  the  world  looks  with  confidence 
for  cool  deliberation,  justice,  and  honor  in  the  final  ad- 
justment of  domestic  and  foreign  affairs  in  the  midst  of 
confusion  at  home  and  madness  abroad. 

America  is  the  world  power  destined  to  be  the  arbiter 
of  this  stupendous  conflict,  and  Woodrow  Wilson,  the 
President,  is  the  greatest  figure,  perhaps,  in  this  world 
crisis  of  inexcusable  folly  and  causeless  bloodshed. 

He  admits  that  he  makes  mistakes,  but  his  charac- 
terization of  the  men  who  have  helped  to  set  this  nation 
forward  on  the  path  to  peace  and  honor  may  be  descrip- 
tive likewise  of  himself. 


THE  MAN  IN  ACTION  537 

''The  men  who  grow,  the  men  who  think  better 
a  year  after  they  are  put  in  office  than  they 
thought  when  they  were  put  in  office,  are  the 
balance  wheel  of  the  whole  thing.  They  are  the 
ballast  that  enables  the  craft  to  carry  sail  and 
to  make  a  port  in  the  long  run,  no  matter  what 
the  weather  is." 

But  looking  back  over  the  years  that  have  intervened 
since  he  was  inaugurated,  he  spoke  feelingly  of  the 
crises  through  which  he  had  come  and  of  the  hostile 
criticism  of  him  from  men  who  had  differed  with  him. 
It  came  as  a  sort  of  public  confession  to  the  newspaper 
men  of  Washington: 

*^I  have  come  through  the  fire,"  he  said, 
''since  I  talked  to  you  last.  Whether  the  metal 
is  purer  than  it  was,  God  only  knows.  But  the 
fire  has  been  there,  the  fire  has  penetrated  every 
part  of  it,  and  if  I  may  believe  my  own  thoughts, 
I  have  less  partisan  feeling,  more  impatience  of 
party  maneuver,  more  enthusiasm  for  the  right 
thing,  no  matter  whom  it  hurts,  than  I  ever  had 
before  in  my  life.  ^ ' 


APPENDIX 

SELECTIONS    PROM   WOODROW   WIL- 
SON'S PUBLIC  ADDRESSES 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  PENN 

*'I  cannot  help  thinking  of  William  Penn  as 
a  sort  of  spiritual  knight  who  went  out  upon  his 
adventures  to  carry  the  torch  that  had  been  put 
into  his  hands,  so  that  other  men  might  have  the 
path  illuminated  for  them  which  led  to  justice  and 
liberty.  I  cannot  admit  that  a  man  establishes 
his  right  to  call  himself  a  college  graduate  by 
showing  me  his  diploma.  The  only  way  he  can 
prove  it  is  by  showing  that  his  eyes  are  lifted 
to  some  horizon  which  other  men  less  instructed 
than  he  have  not  been  privileged  to  see.  Unless 
he  carries  freight  of  the  spirit,  he  has  not  been 
bred  where  spirits  are  bred. 

^  ^  This  man  Penn,  representing  the  sweet  enter- 
prise of  the  quiet  and  powerful  sect  that  called 
themselves  Friends,  proved  his  right  to  the  title 
by  being  the  friend  of  mankind.    He  crossed  the 

538 


APPENDIX  533 


ocean,  not  merely  to  establish  estates  in  America, 
but  to  set  up  a  free  commonwealth  in  America,' 
and  to  show  that  he  was  of  the  lineage  of  thosJ 
who  had  been  bred  in  the  best  traditions  of  the 
human  spirit.    I  would  not  be  interested  in  cele- 
brating the  memory  of  William  Penn  if  his  con- 
quest had  been  merely  a  material  one.    Sometimes 
we  have  been  laughed  at,  by  foreig-ners  in  par- 
ticular, for  boasting  of  the  size  of  the  American 
continent,  the  size  of  our  own  domain  as  a  nation ; 
for  they  have,  naturally  enough,  suggested  that 
we  did  not  make  it.    But  I  claim  that  every  race 
and  every  man  is  as  big  as  the  thing  that  he  takes 
possession  of,  and  that  the  size  of  America  is  in 
some  sense  a  standard  of  the  size  and  capacity  of 
the  American  people.     And  yet  the  mere  extent 
of    the    American   conquest    is    not    what    gives 
America  distinction  in  the  annals  of  the  world, 
but  the  professed  purpose  of  the  conquest  which 
was  to  see  to  it  that  every  foot  of  this  land  should 
be  the  home  of  free,  self-governed  people,  who 
should  have  no  goverament  whatever  which  did 
not  rest  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed.     I 
would  like  to  believe  that  all  this  hemisphere  is 
devoted  to  the   same   sacred  purpose,  and  that 
nowhere   can   any   government   endure   which   is 


540  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

stained  by  blood  or  supported  by  anytliing  but 
the  consent  of  the  governed. 

*'The  spirit  of  Penn  will  not  be  stayed.  You 
cannot  set  limits  to  such  knightly  adventurers. 
After  their  own  day  is  gone,  their  spirits  stalk 
the  world,  carrying  inspiration  everywhere  that 
they  go,  and  reminding  men  of  the  lineage,  the 
fine  lineage,  of  those  who  have  sought  justice 
and  right.'' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  address  at  Swathmore  Col- 
lege, Pennsylvania,  October  25,  1913. 

JOHN  BARRY'S  EXAMPLE 

**No  one  can  turn  to  the  career  of  Commodore 
Barry  without  feeling  a  touch  of  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  he  devoted  an  originating  mind  to 
the  great  cause  which  he  intended  to  serve,  and 
it  behooves  us,  living  in  this  age  when  no  man 
can  question  the  power  of  the  nation,  when  no 
man  would  dare  to  doubt  its  right  and  its  deter- 
mination to  act  for  itself,  to  ask  what  it  was  that 
filled  the  hearts  of  these  men  when  they  set  the 
nation  up. 

**John  Barry  was  an  Irishman,  but  his  heart 
crossed  the  Atlantic  with  him.  He  did  not  leave 
it  in  Ireland.    And  the  test  of  all  of  us — for  all 


APPENDIX  541 

of  US  had  our  origins  on  the  other  side  of  the 
sea — is  whether  we  will  assist  in  enabling  Amer- 
ica to  live  her  separate  and  independent  life, 
retaining  our  ancient  affections,  indeed,  but  deter- 
mining everything  that  we  do  by  the  interests  that 
exist  on  this  side  of  the  sea.  Some  Americans 
need  hyphens  in  their  names,  because  only  part 
of  them  has  come  over;  but  when  the  whole  man 
has  come  over,  heart  and  thought  and  all,  the 
hyphen  drops  of  its  own  weight  out  of  his  name. 
This  man  was  not  an  Irish- American ;  he  was  an 
Irishman  w^ho  became  an  American.  I  venture 
to  say  if  he  voted,  he  voted  with  regard  to  the 
questions  as  they  looked  on  this  side  of  the  water 
and  not  on  the  other  side,  and  that  is  my  infallible 
test  of  a  genuine  American:  that  when  he  votes, 
or  when  he  acts,  or  when  he  fights,  his  heart  and 
his  thought  are  nowhere  but  in  the  center  of  the 
emotions  and  purposes  and  the  policies  of  the 
United  States. 

*^This  man  illustrates  for  me  all  the  splendid 
strength  which  we  brought  into  the  country  by  the 
magnet  of  freedom.  Men  have  been  dra^\^l  to 
this  country  by  the  same  thing  that  has  made 
them  love  this  country:  by  the  opportunity  to 
live    their   own    lives,    and    to    think    their    own 


542  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

thoughts,  and  to  let  their  whole  natures  expand 
with  the  expansion  of  this  free  and  mighty  nation. 
We  have  brought  out  of  the  stocks  of  all  the  world 
all  the  best  impulses,  and  have  appropriated 
them  and  Americanized  them  and  translated  them 
into  the  glory  and  the  majesty  of  this  great 
country. 

*'So,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  when  we  go  out 
from  this  presence,  we  ought  to  take  this  idea 
with  us ;  that  we,  too,  are  devoted  to  the  purpose 
of  enabling  America  to  live  her  own  life,  to  be 
the  justest,  the  most  progressive,  the  most  honor- 
able, the  most  enlightened  nation  in  the  world. 
Any  man  who  touches  our  honor  is  our  enemy. 
Any  man  who  stands  in  the  way  of  that  kind  of 
progress  which  makes  for  human  freedom  cannot 
call  himself  our  friend.  Any  man  who  does  not 
feel  behind  him  the  whole  push  and  rush  and 
compulsion  that  filled  men's  hearts  in  the  time 
of  the  Eevolution  is  no  American.  No  man  who 
thinks  first  of  himself  and  afterwards  of  his 
country  can  call  himself  an  American.  America 
must  be  enriched  by  us.  We  must  not  live  upon 
her;  she  must  live  by  means  of  us. 

**I,  for  one,  come  to  this  shrine  to  renew  the 
impulses  of  American  democracy.     I  would  be 


APPENDIX  543 

ashamed  of  myself  if  I  went  away  from  this  place 
without  realizing  again  that  every  bit  of  selfish- 
ness must  be  purged  from  our  policy,  that  every 
bit  of  self-seeking  must  be  purged  from  our  in- 
dividual conscience,  and  that  we  must  be  great, 
if  we  would  be  great  at  all,  in  the  light  and 
illumination  of  the  example  of  men  who  gave 
everything  that  they  were  and  everything  that 
they  had  to  the  glory  and  honor  of  America. '' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  address  at  the  unveiling  of 
the  statue  to  the  memory  of  Commodore  John  Barry,  at 
Washington,  May  16,  1914. 

THE  PLAIN  MEN  OF  THE  COLONIES 

**The  men  of  the  day  which  we  now  celebrate 
had  a  very  great  advantage  over  us,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  in  this  one  particular :  life  was  simple 
in  America  then.  All  men  shared  the  same  cir- 
cumstances in  almost  equal  degree.  We  think  of 
Washington,  for  example,  as  an  aristocrat,  as  a 
man  separated  by  training,  separated  by  family 
and  neighborhood  tradition,  from  the  ordinary 
people  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  countiy.  Have 
you  forgotten  the  personal  history  of  George 
Washington?  Do  you  not  know  that  he  struggled 
as  poor  boys  now  struggle  for  a  meager  and  im- 


544  WOOBROW  W1LS0^"  AS  PRESIDENT 

perfect  education;  that  he  worked  at  his  sur- 
veyor's tasks  in  the  lonely  forests;  that  he  knew 
all  the  roughness,  all  the  hardships,  all  the  ad- 
venture, all  the  variety  of  the  common  life  of 
that  day;  and  that  if  he  stood  a  little  stiffly  in 
this  place,  if  he  looked  a  little  aloof,  it  was  be- 
cause life  had  dealt  hardly  with  him?  All  his 
sinews  had  been  stiffened  by  the  rough  work  of 
making  America.  He  was  a  man  of  the  people, 
whose  touch  had  been  with  them  since  the  day  he 
saw^  the  light  in  the  old  Dominion  of  Virginia. 
And  the  men  who  came  after  him,  men,  some  of 
whom  had  drunk  deep  at  the  so-urces  of  phil- 
osophy and  of  study,  were,  nevertheless,  also 
men  who  on  this  side  of  the  water  knew  no  com- 
plicated life,  but  the  simple  life  of  primitive 
neighborhoods.  Our  task  is  very  much  more 
difficult.  That  sympathy  which  alone  interprets 
public  duty  is  more  difficult  for  a  public  man  to 
acquire  now  than  it  was  then,  because  we  live 
in  the  midst  of  circumstances  and  conditions 
infinitely  complex. 

**No  man  can  boast  that  he  understands  Amer- 
ica. No  man  can  boast  that  he  has  lived  the  life 
of  America,  as  almost  every  man  who  sat  in  this 


APPENDIX  545 

hall  in  those  days  could  boast.  No  man  can 
pretend  that  except  by  conmion  counsel  he  can 
gather  into  his  consciousness  what  the  varied 
life  of  this  people  is.  The  duty  that  we  have  to 
keep  open  eyes  and  open  hearts  and  accessible 
understandings  is  a  very  much  more  difficult 
duty  to  perform  than  it  was  in  their  day.  Yet 
how  much  more  important  that  it  should  be 
performed,  for  fear  we  make  infinite  and  irre- 
parable blunders.  The  city  of  Washington  is  in 
some  respects  self-contained,  and  it  is  easy  to 
forget  what  the  rest  of  the  United  States  is  think- 
ing about. 

^^I  count  it  a  fortunate  circumstance  that 
almost  all  the  windows  of  the  White  House  and 
its  offices  open  upon  unoccupied  spaces  that 
stretch  to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  and  then  cut 
into  Virginia  and  on  to  the  heavens  themselves, 
and  that  as  I  sit  there  I  can  constantly  forget 
Washington  and  remember  the  United  States. 
Not  that  I  would  intimate  that  all  of  the  United 
States  lies  south  of  Washington,  but  there  is  a 
serious  thing  back  of  my  thought.  If  you  think 
too  much  about  being  reelected,  it  is  very  difficult 
to  be  worth  reelecting.    You  are  so  apt  to  forget 


546  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

that  the  comparatively  small  number  of  persons, 
numerous  as  they  seem  to  be  when  they  swarm, 
who  come  to  Washington  to  ask  for  things,  does 
not  constitute  an  important  proportion  of  the 
population  of  the  country,  that  it  is  constantly 
necessary  to  come  away  from  Washington  and 
renew  one's  contact  with  the  people  who  do  not 
swarm  there,  who  do  not  ask  for  anything,  but 
who  do  trust  you  without  their  personal  counsel 
to  do  your  duty.  Unless  a  man  gets  these  con- 
tacts, he  grows  weaker  and  weaker.  He  needs 
them  as  Antaeus  needed  the  touch  of  Mother 
Earth.  If  you  lift  him  up  too  high  or  he  lifts 
himself  too  high,  he  loses  the  contact  and  there- 
fore loses  the  inspiration. 

^^I  love  to  think  of  those  plain  men,  however 
far  from  plain  their  dress  sometimes  was,  who 
assembled  in  this  hall.  One  is  startled  to  think 
of  the  variety  of  costume  and  color  which  would 
now  occur  if  we  were  to  let  loose  upon  the 
fashions  of  that  age.  Men's  lack  of  taste  is 
largely  concealed  now  by  the  limitations  of 
fashion.  Yet  these  men,  who  sometimes  dressed 
like  the  peacock,  were,  nevertheless,  of  the  or- 
dinary flight  of  their  time.  They  were  birds  of 
a  feather;   they  were  birds   come  from  a  very 


APPENDIX  547 

simple  breeding;  tliey  were  rnucli  in  the  open 
heaven.  They  were  beginning,  when  there  was 
so  little  to  distract  their  attention,  to  show  that 
they  could  live  upon  fundamental  principles  of 
government.  We  talk  those  principles,  but  we 
have  not  time  to  absorb  them.  We  have  not  time 
to  let  them  into  our  blood,  and  thence  have  them 
translated  into  the  plain  mandates  of  action. 

*^The  very  smallness  of  this  room,  the  very 
simplicity  of  it  all,  all  the  suggestions  which  come 
from    its    restoration,    are    reassuring    things- 
things  which  it  becomes  a  man  to  realize.   There- 
fore, my  theme  here  today,  my  only  thought,  is  a 
very  simple  one.     Do  not  let  us  go  back  to  the 
annals  of  those  sessions  of  Congress  to  find  out 
what  to  do,  because  we  live  in  another  age  and 
the  circumstances  are  absolutely  different ;  but  let 
us  be  men  of  that  kind ;  let  us  feel  at  every  turn 
the  compulsions  of  principle  and  of  honor  which 
they  felt ;  let  us  free  our  vision  from  temporary 
circumstances  and  look  abroad  at  the  horizon  and 
take  into  our  lungs  the  great  air  of  freedom  which 
has  blown  through  this  country  and  stolen  across 
the    seas    and   blessed   people    everywhere;    and, 
looking  east  and  west  and  north  and  south,  let 
us  remind  ourselves  that  we  are  the  custodians, 


548  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

in   some   degree,   of   the  principles   which   have 

made  men  free  and  governments  just.'' 

Woodrow  Wilson's  address  at  the  celebration  of  the 
rededication  of  Congress  Hall,  Philadelphia,  October  25, 
1913. 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF 

INDEPENDENCE 

*'Have  you  ever  read  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence? When  you  have  heard  it  read,  have 
you  attended  to  its  sentences?  The  Declaration 
of  Independence  is  not  a  Fourth  of  July  oration. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  a  docu- 
ment preliminary  to  a  war.  It  involved  a  vital 
piece  of  business,  not  a  piece  of  rhetoric.  And 
if  you  will  get  further  down  in  the  reading  than 
its  preliminary  passages,  where  it  quotes  about 
the  rights  of  men,  you  will  see  that  it  is  a  very 
specific  body  of  declarations  concerning  the  busi- 
ness of  the  day — not  the  business  of  our  day,  for 
the  matter  with  which  it  deals  is  past — the  busi- 
ness of  revolution,  the  business  of  1776.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  does  not  seem  any- 
thing to  us  merely  in  its  general  statements 
unless  we  can  append  to  it  a  similarly  specific 


APPENDIX  549 

body  of  particulars  as  to  what  we  consider  our 
liberty  to  consist  of. 

*^  Liberty  does  not  consist  in  mere  general 
declaration  as  to  the  rights  of  man.  It  consists 
in  the  translation  of  those  declarations  into 
definite  action.  Therefore,  standing  here  where 
the  Declaration  was  adopted,  reading  the  busi- 
ness-like sentences,  we  ought  to  ask  ourselves, 
what  is  there  in  it  for  us  I  There's  nothing  in 
it  for  us  unless  we  can  translate  it  into  terms  of 
our  ow^n  conditions  and  of  our  own  lives.  We 
must  reduce  it  to  what  the  lawyers  call  a  bill 
of  particulars,  the  bill  of  particulars  of  1776, 
and,  if  we  are  to  revitalize  it,  we  are  to  fill  it 
with  a  bill  of  particulars  of  1914.  The  task  to 
which  we  have  to  address  ourselves  is  a  proof 
that  we  are  worthy  of  the  men  w^ho  drew  this 
great  Declaration  by  showing  we  know  what  they 
would  have  done  in  our  circumstances. 

*^You  know  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
has  in  one  sense  lost  its  significance.  Nobody 
believed  we  could  be  independent  when  that  docu- 
ment was  written.  Now  nobody  would  dare  doubt 
we  are  independent.  As  a  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence it  is  a  mere  historic  document.  The 
Independence  is  a  fact  so  stupendous  that  it  can 


550  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

be  measured  only  by  the  size,  energy,  ability, 
wealth,  and  power  of  one  of  the  greatest  nations 
of  the  world. 

**But  it  is  one  thing  to  be  independent,  and  it 
is  another  thing  to  know  what  to  do  with  your 
independence.  It  is  one  thing  to  come  to  your 
majority,  and  another  thing  to  know  what  you 
are  going  to  do  with  your  life  and  your  energies. 
One  of  the  most  serious  questions  for  sober 
minded  men  to  address  themselves  to  in  these 
United  States  is:  what  are  we  going  to  do  with 
the  influence  and  power  of  this  great  nation? 
Are  we  going  to  play  the  old  role  of  using  that 
power  for  our  own  aggrandizement  and  material 
benefit?  You  know  what  that  means.  It  means 
we  shall  use  it  to  make  the  people  of  other 
nations  suffer  in  the  way  in  which  we  said  it 
was  intolerable  to  suffer  when  we  uttered  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.     . 

**We  set  up  this  nation  and  we  propose  to  set 
it  up  on  the  rights  of  man.  We  did  not  name  any 
differences  between  one  race  and  another;  we 
did  not  set  up  any  barriers  against  any  par- 
ticular race  of  people,  but  opened  our  gates  to 
the  world,  and  said  for  all  men  who  wished  to  be 
free  to  come  to  us  and  they  would  be  welcome. 


APPENDIX  551 

We  said  this  independence  is  not  merely  for  us, 
a  selfish  thing  for  our  own  private  use,  but  for 
everybody  to  whom  we  confided  the  means  of 
extending  it. 

**  These  were  grim  days,  the  days  of  76.  These 
gentlemen   did   not   attach   their   names    to    the 
Declaration   of  Independence   on   this   table   ex- 
pecting a  holiday  the  next  day.     The  Fourth  of 
July  was   not   a  holiday.     They   attached  their 
signatures   to   that  document,  knowing,   if   they 
failed,    the    extreme    likelihood   was    that    every 
one  would  hang  for  the  failure.    They  were  com- 
mitting treason  in  the  interest  of  three  million 
people  in  America,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
was   against   them.     All  the  rest  of   the   world 
smiled  with  a  cynical  incredulity  at  the  audacious 
undertaking.     Do  you  think  these  gentlemen,  if 
they  could  see  this  great  nation,  would  regard 
that  they  had  done  anything  to  make  themselves 
unpopular  and  to  draw  the  gaze  of  the  world  in 
astonishment  and  condescending  surprise! 

*' Every  idea  has  got  to  be  started  by  some- 
body and  it  is  a  lonely  thing  to  start  anything. 
Yet  you  have  got  to  start  it  if  there  is  any  man's 
blood  in  you,  and  if  you  love  the  country  that  you 
are  pretending  to  work  for.    I  am  sometimes  very 


552  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

much  interested  in  seeing  gentlemen  supposing 
that  popularity  is  the  way  to  success  in  America. 
The  way  to  popularity  in  America  is  to  show  that 
you  are  not  afraid  of  anybody  except  God  and 
his  judgment.  If  I  did  not  believe  that,  I  would 
not  believe  that  judgment  would  be  the  last  and 
final  judgment  in  the  minds  of  men,  as  well  as 
at  the  tribunal  of  God;  I  could  not  believe  in 
popular  government.  But  I  do  believe  these 
things,  and,  therefore,  I  earnestly  believe  in  the 
democracy,  not  only  of  America,  but  in  the  power 
of  an  awakened  people,  to  govern  and  control  its 
own  affairs.  So  it  is  very  inspiring  to  come  to 
this  that  may  be  called  the  original  fountain  of 
liberty  and  independence  of  America,  and  take 
these  drafts  of  patriotic  feelings  which  seem  to 
renew  the  very  blood  in  a  man's  veins. 

*^What  other  great  people,  I  ask,  has  devoted 
itself  to  this  exalted  ideal  I  To  what  other  nation 
can  you  look  for  instant  sympathy  that  thrills 
the  whole  body  politic  when  men  anywhere  are 
fighting  for  their  rights?  I  don't  know  that  there 
will  ever  be  another  Declaration  of  Independence, 
a  statement  of  grievances  of  mankind,  but  I  be- 
lieve if  any  such  document  is  ever  drawn,  it  will 
be  drawn  in  the  spirit  of  the  American  Declara- 


APPENDIX  553 

tion  of  Independence,  and  that  America  has  lifted 

the  light  that  will  shine  unto  all  generations  and 

guide  the  feet  of  mankind  to  the  goal  of  justice, 

liberty,  and  peace. ' ' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  address  at  Independence 
Hall,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  July  4,  1914. 

OUR  DUTY  TO  THE  DEFENDERS  OF  THE  UNION 

*^A  peculiar  privilege  came  to  the  men  who 
fought  for  the  Union.  There  is  no  other  civil 
war  in  history,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  stings 
of  which  were  removed  before  the  men  who  did 
the  fighting  passed  from  the  stage  of  life.  So 
that  we  owe  these  men  something  more  than  a 
legal  re-establishment  of  the  Union.  We  owe 
them  the  spiritual  re-establislunent  of  the  Union 
as  well;  for  they  not  only  re-united  states,  they 
re-united  the  spirits  of  men.  That  is  their  unique 
achievement,  unexampled  anywhere  else  in  the 
annals  of  mankind,  that  the  very  men  whom  they 
overcame  in  battle  join  in  praise  and  gratitude 
that  the  Union  was  saved.  There  is  something 
peculiarly  beautiful  and  peculiarly  touching  about 
that.  Whenever  a  man  who  is  still  trying  to 
devote  himself  to  the  service  of  the  nation  comes 
into  a  presence  like  this,  or  into  a  place  like 


554  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

this,  his  spirit  must  be  peculiarly  moved.  A 
mandate  is  laid  upon  him  which  seems  to  speak 
from  the  very  graves  themselves.  I  can  never 
speak  in  praise  of  war,  ladies  and  gentlemen ;  you 
w^ould  not  desire  me  to  do  so.  But  there  is  this 
peculiar  distinction  belonging  to  the  soldier,  that 
he  goes  into  an  enterprise  out  of  which  he  him- 
self cannot  get  anything  at  all.  He  is  giving 
everything  that  he  hath,  even  his  life,  in  order 
that  others  may  live,  not  in  order  that  he  himself 
may  obtain  gain  and  prosperity.  And  just  so 
soon  as  the  tasks  of  peace  are  performed  in  the 
same  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  devotion,  peace 
societies  will  not  be  necessary.  The  very  organiza- 
tion and  spirit  of  society  will  be  a  guaranty  of 
peace. 

*^  Therefore,  this  peculiar  thing  comes  about, 
that  we  can  stand  here  and  praise  the  memory  of 
these  soldiers  in  the  interest  of  peace.  They  set 
"US  the  example  of  self-sacrifice,  which  if  followed 
in  peace  will  make  it  unnecessary  that  men  should 
follow  war  any  more. 

*^We  are  reputed  to  be  somewhat  careless  in 
our  discrimination  between  words  in  the  use  of 
the  English  language,  and  yet  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  there  are  some  w^ords  about  which 


APPENDIX  555 

we  are  very  careful.  AVe  bestow  the  adjective 
*  great'  somewhat  indiscriminately.  A  man  who 
has  made  conquest  of  his  fellow-men  for  his  own 
gain  may  display  such  genius  in  war,  such  un- 
common qualities  of  organization  and  leadership 
that  we  may  call  him  ^ great';  there  is  a  word 
which  we  reserve  for  men  of  another  kind  and 
about  which  we  are  very  careful:  that  is  the 
word  ^  noble.'  We  never  call  a  man  *  noble' 
who  serves  only  himself;  and  if  you  will  look 
about  through  all  the  nations  of  the  world  upon 
the  statues  that  men  have  erected — upon  the 
inscribed  tablets  where  they  have  wished  to  keep 
alive  the  memory  of  the  citizens  whom  they  de- 
sire most  to  honor — you  will  find  that  almost 
without  exception  they  have  erected  the  statue 
to  those  who  had  a  splendid  surplus  of  energy 
and  devotion  to  spend  upon  their  fellow-men. 
Nobility  exists  in  America  without  patent.  We 
have  no  House  of  Lords,  but  we  have  a  house  of 
fame  to  which  we  elevate  those  who  are  the 
noble  men  of  our  race,  who,  forgetful  of  them- 
selves, study  and  serve  the  public  interest,  who 
have  the  courage  to  face  any  number  and  any 
kind  of  adversary,  to  speak  what  in  their  hearts 
they  believe  to  be  the  truth. 


556  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

**We  admire  physical  courage,  but  we  admire 
above  all  things  else  moral  courage.  I  believe 
that  soldiers  will  bear  me  out  in  saying  that  both 
come  in  time  of  battle.  I  take  it  that  the  moral 
courage  comes  in  going  into  battle,  and  the 
physical  courage  in  staying  in.  There  are  battles 
which  are  just  as  hard  to  go  into  and  just  as 
hard  to  stay  in  as  the  battle  of  arms ;  and  if  the 
man  will  but  stay  and  think  never  of  himself, 
there  will  came  a  time  of  grateful  recollection 
when  men  will  speak  of  him  not  only  with  ad- 
miration but  with  that  which  goes  deeper,  with 
affection  and  with  reverence. 

^^So  that  this  flag  calls  upon  us  daily  for 
service,  and  the  more  quiet  and  self-denying  the 
service,  the  greater  the  glory  of  the  flag.  We 
are  dedicated  to  freedom,  and  that  freedom  means 
the  freedom  of  the  human  spirit.  All  free  spirits 
ought  to  congregate  on  an  occasion  like  this  to 
do  homage  to  the  greatness  of  America  as  illus- 
trated by  the  greatness  of  her  sons. 

**It  has  been  a  privilege,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
to  come  and  say  these  simple  words,  which  I  am 
sure  are  merely  putting  your  thought  into  lan- 
guage.    I  thank  you  for  the  opportunity  to  lay 


APPENDIX  557 

this  little  wreatli  of  mine  upon  these  consecrated 
graves. ' ' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  address  at  Arlington,  May 
30,  1914. 


THE  NEW  ERA 

**A  year  and  a  half  ago  our  thought  would 
have  been  almost  altogether  of  great  domestic 
questions.  They  are  many  and  of  vital  conse- 
quence. We  must  and  shall  address  ourselves  to 
their  solution  with  diligence,  firmness,  and  self- 
possession,  notwithstanding  we  find  ourselves  in 
the  midst  of  a  world  disturbed  by  great  disaster 
and  ablaze  with  terrible  war;  but  our  thought  is 
now  inevitably  of  new  things  about  which  for- 
merly we  gave  ourselves  little  concern.  We  are 
thinking  now  chiefly  of  our  relations  with  the 
rest  of  the  world,  not  our  commercial  relations — 
about  those  we  have  thought  and  planned  always 
— but  about  our  political  relations,  our  duties  as 
an  individual  and  independent  force  in  the  world 
to  ourselves,  our  neighbors,  and  the  w^orld  itself. 

*^Our  principles  are  well  known.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  avow  them  again.  We  believe  in 
political  liberty  and  founded  our  great  Govern- 


558  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ment  to  obtain  it,  the  liberty  of  men  and  of 
peoples — of  men  to  choose  their  own  lives  and 
of  peoples  to  choose  their  own  allegiance. 

^^Our  ambition,  also,  all  the  world  has  knowl- 
edge of.  It  is  not  only  to  be  free  and  prosperous 
ourselves,  but  also  to  be  the  friend  and  thought- 
ful partisan  of  those  who  are  free  or  who  desire 
freedom  the  world  over.  If  we  have  had  aggres- 
sive purposes  and  covetous  ambitions,  they  were 
the  fruit  of  our  thoughtless  youth  as  a  nation, 
and  we  have  put  them  aside.  We  shall,  I  con- 
fidently believe,  never  again  take  another  foot 
of  territory  by  conquest.  We  shall  never  in  any 
circumstances  seek  to  make  an  independent  people 
subject  to  our  dominion;  because  we  believe,  we 
passionately  believe,  in  the  right  of  every  people 
to  choose  their  own  allegiance  and  be  free  of 
masters  altogether. 

**For  ourselves  we  wish  nothing  but  the  full 
liberty  of  self -development ;  and  with  ourselves  in 
this  great  matter  we  associat-e  all  the  peoples  of 
our  own  hemisphere.  We  wish  not  only  for  the 
United  States  but  for  them  the  fullest  freedom  of 
independent  growth  and  action,  for  we  know 
that  throughout  this  hemisphere  the  same  aspira- 
tions are  everywhere  being  worked  out,  under 


APPENDIX  559 

diverse  conditions,  but  with  the  same  impulse  and 
ultimate  object. 

*^A11  this  is  very  clear  to  us  and  will,  I  confi- 
dently predict,  become  more  and  more  clear  to 
the  whole  world  as  the  great  processes  of  the 
future  unfold  themselves.'' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  Address  before  the  Man- 
hattan Club  of  New  York,  November  4,  1915. 

THE  AMERICAN  FLAG 

*'As  I  look  at  that  flag,  I  seem  to  see  many 
characters  upon  it  which  are  not  visible  to  the 
physical  eye.  There  seem  to  move  ghostly 
visions  of  devoted  men  who,  looking  to  that  flag, 
thought  only  of  Liberty,  of  the  Eights  of  Man- 
kind, of  the  mission  of  America  to  show  the  way 
to  the  world  for  the  realization  of  those  rights. 

*^And  every  grave  of  every  brave  man  in  the 
country  would  seem  to  have  upon  it  the  colors  of 
the  flag,  if  he  were  a  true  American;  seem  to 
have  upon  it  that  stain  of  red,  which  means  the 
true  pulse  of  blood;  that  patch  of  pure  white, 
which  means  the  peace  of  the  soul. 

^'And  then  there  seems  to  rise  over  the  graves 
of  those  men  and  to  hallow  their  memories  that 
blue  space  of  the  skies  in  which  swim  those  stars 


560  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

which  exemplify  for  us  the  glorious  galaxy  of 
the  States  of  the  Union,  which  stand  together  to 
vindicate  the  Rights  of  Mankind/' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  campaign  in  the  West  on 
Military  Preparedness. 

THE  MEANING  OF  THE  FLAG 

^^I  sometimes  wonder  why  men  take  this  flag 
and  flaunt  it.  If  I  am  respected,  I  do  not  have 
to  demand  respect.  If  I  am  feared,  I  do  not 
have  to  ask  for  fear.  If  my  power  is  known,  I  do 
not  have  to  proclaim  it.  I  do  not  understand  the 
temper,  neither  does  this  Nation  understand  the 
temper,  of  men  who  use  this  flag  boastfully. 

*^This  flag  for  the  future  is  meant  to  stand 
for  the  just  use  of  undisputed  national  power. 
No  nation  is  ever  going  to  doubt  our  power  to 
assert  its  right,  and  we  should  lay  it  to  heart 
that  no  nation  shall  ever  henceforth  doubt  our 
purpose  to  put  it  to  the  highest  uses  to  which  a 
great  emblem  of  justice  and  government  can  be 
put. 

^*It  is  henceforth  to  stand  for  self-possession, 
for  dignity,  for  the  assertion  of  the  right  of  one 
nation  to  serve  the  other  nations  of  the  world — 
an  emblem  that  will  not  condescend  to  be  used 


APPENDIX  561 

for  the  purposes  of  aggression  and  self-aggran- 
dizement; that  is  too  great  to  be  debased  by 
selfishness;  that  has  vindicated  its  right  to  be 
honored  by  all  nations  of  the  world  and  feared 
by  none  who  do  righteousness. 

^^Is  it  not  a  proud  thing  to  stand  under  such 
an  emblem?  Would  it  not  be  a  pitiful  thing 
ever  to  make  apology  and  explanation  of  any- 
thing that  we  ever  did  under  the  leadership  of 
this  flag  carried  in  the  van!  Is  it  not  a  solemn 
responsibility  laid  upon  us  to  lay  aside  bluster, 
and  assume  that  much  greater  thing,  the  quietude 
oi  genuine  power?  So  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
my  privilege  and  right  as  the  temporary  repre- 
sentative of  a  great  nation  that  does  what  it 
pleases  with  its  own  affairs,  to  say  that  we  please 
to  do  justice  and  assert  the  rights  of  mankind 
wherever  this  flag  is  unfurled/' 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  Address  on  Flag  Day, 
June,  1915. 

LET  NO  MAN  CREATE  DIVISION 

*^The  only  thing  within  our  own  borders  that 
has  given  us  grave  concern  in  recent  months 
has  been  that  voices  have  been  raised  in  America 
professing  to  be  the  voices  of  Americans  which 


562  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

were  not  indeed  and  in  truth  American,  but 
which  spoke  alien  sympathies,  which  came  from 
men  who  loved  other  countries  better  than  they 
loved  America,  men  who  were  partisans  of  other 
causes  than  that  of  America  and  had  forgotten 
that  their  chief  and  only  allegiance  was  to  the 
great  Government  under  which  they  live.  These 
voices  have  not  been  many,  but  they  have  been 
very  loud  and  very  clamorous.  They  have  pro- 
ceeded from  a  few  who  were  bitter  and  who 
were  grievously  misled. 

^^  America  has  not  opened  its  doors  in  vain 
to  men  and  women  out  of  other  nations.  The 
vast  majority  of  those  who  have  come  to  take 
advantage  of  her  hospitality  have  united  their 
spirits  with  hers  as  well  as  their  fortunes. 
These  men  who  speak  alien  sympathies  are  not 
their  spokesmen,  but  are  the  spokesmen  of 
small  groups  whom  it  is  high  time  that  the 
nation  should  call  to  a  reckoning.  The  chief 
thing  necessary  in  America  in  order  that  she 
should  let  all  the  world  know  that  she  is  pre- 
pared to  maintain  her  own  great  position  is 
that  the  real  voice  of  the  nation  should  sound 
forth  unmistakably  and  in  majestic  volume,  in 


APPENDIX  563 

the  deep  unison  of  a  common,  unhesitating 
national  feeling.  I  do  not  doubt  that  upon  the 
first  occasion,  upon  the  first  opportunity,  upon 
the  first  definite  challenge,  that  voice  will  speak 
forth  in  tones  which  no  man  can  doubt,  and  with 
commands  which  no  man  dare  gainsay  or  resist. 

**May  I  not  say,  while  I  am  speaking  of 
this,  that  there  is  another  danger  that  we  should 
guard  against?  We  should  rebuke  not  only 
manifestations  of  racial  feeling  here  in  America 
where  there  should  be  none,  but  also  every  mani- 
festation of  religious  and  sectarian  antagonism. 
It  does  not  become  America  that  within  her 
borders  where  every  man  is  free  to  follow 
the  dictates  of  his  conscience  and  worship  God 
as  he  pleases,  men  should  raise  the  cry  of 
church  against  church.  To  do  that  is  to  strike 
at  the  very  spirit  and  heart  of  America. 

**"We  are  a  God-fearing  people.  We  agree 
to  differ  about  methods  of  worship,  but  we 
are  united  in  believing  in  Divine  Providence  and 
in  worshiping  the  God  of  Nations.  We  are  the 
champions  of  religious  right  here  and  every- 
where that  it  may  be  our  privilege  to  give  it 
our    countenance    and    support.      The    Govern- 


564  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

ment  is  conscious  of  the  obligation  and  the 
nation  is  conscious  of  the  obligation.  Let  no  man 
create  divisions  where  there  are  none." 


WHAT  AMERICA  HAS  TO  FEAR 

'^Nobody  seriously  supposes,  gentlemen,  that 
the  United  States  needs  to  fear  an  invasion  of  its 
own  territory.  What  America  has  to  fear,  if  she 
has  anything  to  fear,  are  indirect,  roundabout, 
flank  movements  upon  her  regnant  position  in  the 
western  hemisphere. 

^^Are  we  going  to  open  those  gates,  or  are  we 
going  to  close  them?  For  they  are  the  gates  to 
the  hearts  of  our  American  friends  ta  the  south 
of  us,  and  not  gates  to  the  ports. 

^^Win  their  spirits  and  you  have  won  the  only 
sort  of  leadership  and  the  only  sort  of  safety  that 
America  covets.  We  must  all  of  us  think,  from 
this  time  out,  gentlemen,  in  terms  of  the  world, 
and  must  learn  what  it  is  that  America  has  set 
out  to  maintain  as  a  standard-bearer  for  all  these 
who  love  liberty  and  justice  and  the  righteousness 
of  political  action. 

''But  there  are  rights  higher  than  either  of 
those,  higher  than  the  rights  of  individual  Ameri- 


APPExXDlX  565 

cans,  outside  of  America,  higher  and  greater  than 
the  rights  of  trade  and  of  commerce.  I  mean 
the  rights  of  mankind.  We  have  made  ourselves 
the  gTiarantors  of  the  rights  of  national  sover- 
eignty and  of  popular  sovereignty  on  this  side 
of  the  water  in  both  continents  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  You  would  be  ashamed,  as  I  would 
be  ashamed,  to  withdraw  one  inch  from  that  hand- 
some guarantee,  for  it  is  a  handsome  one.  For 
Vie  have  nothing  to  make  by  it  unless  it  be  that 
we  are  to  make  friendships  by  it,  and  friendships 
are  the  best  usury  of  any  sort  of  business. 

'^So  far  as  dollars  and  cents  and  material 
advantage  are  concerned,  we  have  nothing  to 
make  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  We  have  nothing 
to  make  by  allying  ourselves  with  the  other 
nations  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  in  order  to 
see  to  it  that  no  man  from  outside,  no  Government 
from  outside,  no  nation  from  outside  attempts 
to  assert  any  kind  of  sovereignty  or  undue  influ- 
ence over  the  peoples  of  this  continent. 

*^  America  knows  that  the  only  thing  that  sus- 
tains the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  all  the  inferences 
that  flow  from  it  is  her  own  moral  and  physical 
force.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  never  been  for- 
mally accepted  by  any  international  agreement. 


566  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  merely  rests  upon  the  state- 
ment that  the  United  States  will  do  certain  things 
if  certain  things  happen.  So  nothing  sustains 
the  honor  of  the  United  States  in  respect  of  these 
long-cherished  and  long-admired  promises  except 
her  own  moral  and  physical  force. 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  campaign  in  the  West  on 
Military  Preparedness. 

OUR  NEUTRALITY  MISUNDERSTOOD 

**I  know  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  water 
there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  cruel  misjudg- 
ment  with  regard  to  the  reasons  why  America 
has  remained  neutral.  Those  who  look  at  us  at 
a  distance,  my  fellow  citizens,  do  not  feel  the 
strong  pulses  of  ideal  principle  that  are  in  us. 
They  do  not  feel  the  conviction  of  America  that 
her  mission  is  a  mission  of  peace  and  that  right- 
eousness cannot  be  maintained  as  a  standard 
in  the  midst  of  arms.  They  do  not  realize  that 
back  of  all  our  energy,  by  which  we  have  built 
up  great  material  wealth  and  created  great  ma- 
terial power,  we  are  a  body  of  idealists,  much 
more  ready  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  a  thought 
than  for  a  dollar. 

**I  suppose  some  of  them  think  that  we  are 


APPENDIX  567 

holding  off  because  we  can  make  money  Avhile 
others  are  dying — the  most  cruel  misunderstand- 
ing that  any  nation  has  had  to  face,  so  wrong 
that  it  seems  almost  useless  to  try  to  correct  it, 
because  it  shows  that  the  very  fundamentals  of 
our  life  are  not  comprehended  and  understood. 

* '  I  need  not  tell  my  fellow-citizens  that  we  have 
not  held  off  from  this  struggle  from  motives  of 
self-interest,  unless  it  be  considered  self-interest 
to  maintain  our  position  as  the  trustees  of  the 
moral  judgments  of  the  w^orld.  We  have  believed, 
and  I  believe,  that  we  can  serve  even  the  nations 
at  war  better  by  remaining  at  peace  and  holding 
off  from  this  contest  than  we  could  possibly  serve 
them  in  any  other  way. 

**Your  interests,  your  sympathies,  your  affec- 
tions may  be  engaged  on  the  one  side  or  the  other, 
but  no  matter  which  side  they  are  engaged  on, 
your  duty  to  your  affections  in  that  matter  is  to 
stand  off  and  not  let  this  nation  be  drawn  into 
the  war. 

**  Somebody  must  keep  the  great  stable  founda- 
tions of  the  life  of  nations  untouched  and  undis- 
turbed; somebody  must  keep  the  great  economic 
processes  of  the  world  of  business  alive;  some- 
body must  see  to  it  that  we  stand  ready  to  repair 


568  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

the  enormous  damage  and  the  incalculable  losses 
which  will  result  from  this  war  and  which  it  is 
hardly  credible  could  be  repaired  if  every  great 
nation  in  the  world  were  drawn  into  this  con- 
test. 

From  Woodrow  Wilson's  campaign  in  the  West  on 
Military  Preparedness. 

THE  LESSON  OF  THE  WAR 

**If  this  war  has  accomplished  nothing  else 
for  the  benefit  of  the  world,  it  has  at  least  dis- 
closed a  great  moral  necessity,  and  set  forward 
the  thinking  of  the  statesmen  of  the  world  by  a 
whole  age.  Eepeated  utterances  of  the  leading 
statesmen  of  most  of  the  great  nations  now 
engaged  in  war  have  made  it  plain  that  their 
thought  has  come  to  this:  That  the  principle 
of  public  right  must  henceforth  take  precedence 
over  the  individual  interests  of  particular  na- 
tions, and  that  the  nations  of  the  world  must 
in  some  way  band  themselves  together  to  see 
that  that  right  prevails  as  against  any  sort 
of  selfish  aggression;  that  henceforth  alliance 
must  not  be  set  up  against  alliance;  understand- 
ing against  understanding;  but  that  there  must 
be  a  common  agreement  for  a  common  object. 


APPENDIX  569 

and  that  at  the  heart  of  that  common  object 
must  lie  the  inviolable  rights  of  peoples  and  of 
mankind. 

''The  nations  of  the  world  have  become  each 
other's  neighbors.  It  is  to  their  interest  that 
they  should  understand  each  other.  In  order 
that  they  may  understand  each  other  it  is 
imperative  that  they  should  agree  to  cooperate 
in  a  common  cause,  and  that  they  should  so  act 
that  the  guiding  principle  of  that  common  cause 
shall  be  even-handed  and  impartial  justice. 

''This  is  undoubtedly  the  thought  of  America. 
This  is  what  we  ourselves  will  say  when  there 
comes  proper  occasion  to  say  it.  In  the  deal- 
ings of  nations  with  one  another  arbitrary  force 
must  be  rejected  and  we  must  move  forward  to 
the  thought  of  the  modern  world,  the  thought  of 
which  peace  is  the  very  atmosphere.  That 
thought  constitutes  a  chief  part  of  the  passionate 
conviction  of  America. 

*'We  believe  these  fundamental  things: 

"First,  that  every  people  has  a  right  to  choose 
the  sovereignty  under  which  they  shall  live. 
Like  other  nations,  we  have  ourselves,  no  doubt, 
once  and  again  offended  against  that  principle 
when    for    a    little    while    controlled    by    selfish 


570  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

passion,  as  our  franker  historians  have  been 
honorable  enough  to  admit;  but  it  has  become 
more  and  more  our  rule  of  life  and  action. 

^^  Second,  that  the  small  states  of  the  world 
have  the  right  to  enjoy  the  same  respect  for 
their  sovereignty  and  for  their  territorial  integ- 
rity that  great  and  powerful  nations  expect 
and  insist  upon. 

*^And,  third,  that  the  world  has  a  right  to 
be  free  from  every  disturbance  of  its  peace  that 
has  its  origin  in  aggression  and  disregard  of  the 
rights  of  peoples  and  nations. 

*^So  sincerely  do  we  believe  in  these  things 
that  I  am  sure  that  I  speak  the  mind  and  wish 
of  the  people  of  America  when  I  say  that  the 
United  States  is  willing  to  become  a  partner 
in  any  feasible  association  of  nations  formed 
in  order  to  realize  these  objects  and  make  them 
secure  against  violation. 

**  There  is  nothing  that  the  United  States 
wants  for  itself  that  any  other  nation  has.  We 
are  willing,  on  the  contrary,  to  limit  ourselves 
along  with  them  to  a  prescribed  course  of  duty 
and  respect  for  the  rights  of  others,  which  will 
check  any  selfish  passion  of  our  own,  as  it  will 
check  any  aggressive  impulse  of  theirs, 


APPENDIX  571 

*'If  it  should  ever  be  our  privilege  to  suggest 
or  initiate  a  movement  for  peace  among  the 
nations  now  at  war,  I  am  sure  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  would  wish  their  govern- 
ment to  move  along  these  lines : 

**  First,  such  a  settlement  with  regard  to  their 
own  immediate  interests  as  the  belligerents  may 
agree  upon.  We  have  nothing  material  of  any 
kind  to  ask  for  ourselves,  and  are  quite  aware 
that  we  are  in  no  sense  or  degree  parties  to 
the  present  quarrel.  Our  interest  is  only  in 
peace  and  its  future  guaranty. 

*' Second,  a  universal  association  of  the  nations 
to  maintain  the  inviolate  security  of  the  highway 
of  the  seas  for  the  common  and  unhindered 
use  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  to  prevent 
any  war  begun  either  contrary  to  treaty,  cove- 
nants, or  without  warning  and  full  submission  of 
the  causes  to  the  opinion  of  the  world — a  virtual 
guaranty  of  territorial  integrity  and  political 
independence. 

**But  I  did  not  come  here,  let  me  repeat,  to 
discuss  a  program.  I  came  only  to  avow  a 
creed  and  give  expression  to  the  confidence  I 
feel  that  the  world  is  even  now  upon  the  eve 
of  a  great  consummation,  when  some  common 


572  WOODROW  WILSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

force  will  be  brought  into  existence  which  shall 
safeguard  right  as  the  first  and  most  funda- 
mental interest  of  all  peoples  and  all  govern- 
ments, when  coercion  shall  be  summoned  not 
to  the  service  of  loolitical  ambition  or  selfish 
hostility,  but  to  the  service  of  a  common  order, 
a  common  justice,  and  a  common  peace. 

^^God  grant  that  the  dawn  of  that  day  of 
frank  dealing  and  of  settled  peace,  concord,  and 
cooperation  may  be  near  at  hand ! ' ' 

From  an  Address  of  Woodrow  Wilson,  May  27,  1916, 
at  the  banquet  of  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace. 


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